National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Resource History and Description of Existing Conditions
employed at the house for only two weeks. 1248 As a result, safety gates were installed on each floor
that could only be opened when the elevator car was at floor level.
The Dumbwaiter is located in the Butler's Pantry. It runs down one story to the northeast
corner of the service stair, near the Kitchen. The Dumbwaiter was manufactured by Chas. W.
Hoffman Co. at 309 W. 36 th Street, New York City. There are three shelves in the Dumbwaiter, one
twice the height of the other two. There is evidence of some sort of hinged apparatus at the bottom,
where there are screw holes and the receptacles for a hinge. Bell wires run in the back corner.
These connect the pushbutton on the Dumbwaiter's wall in the Butler's Pantry presumably to the
Kitchen. The Dumbwaiter evidently had a mechanical limiter to stop its descent which is not now
in operation. Instead the rope is knotted underneath the shelf.
1248 Historian's Research Notes File, 383. Source: Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier October 21, 1900;
Historian's Research Notes File, 385. Source: Braman's Scrap Book, vol. 5, 101.
223