By Adnrei Lankov
When in 1945 Korea regained its independence, there were merely 40 buildings in the entire country which were equipped with elevators ― and few of these elevators really functioned after the years of war and chronic shortages of everything. The first elevator was installed in the Bank of Korea in 1910, but it moved banknotes, not people, so an elevator ride became possible only in 1914 when an American-made elevator was installed in the Chosen (later Chosun) Hotel, the first luxury hotel to be opened in the Korean capital.
The vast majority of elevators were located in government buildings, the local headquarters of major Japanese companies and, somewhat surprisingly, in hospitals. An elevator became a required feature of a department store where its sheer presence advertised the shop's modernity and sophistication. One of the colonial-era department stores, the Korean-owned Hwashin, even boasted an escalator. Nonetheless, the elevator was still seen as a technical wonder, an exceptional device suitable only for exceptional buildings.
Needless to say, all these elevators were manufactured overseas, either by Otis in the United States, or by some Japanese companies (largely by Mitsubishi). During the last years of the Pacific War, most elevators were dismantled or became unworkable due to the persistent shortage of spare parts. For example, in the Governor-General's Office where initially there were twelve elevators (the highest number of elevators to be found in a single building during the colonial era) only two were working in 1945. Out of the nine elevators in the Bando Hotel, the largest luxurious hotel in Korea, seven had been dismantled by the end of the Pacific War. Perhaps, there were merely ten functioning elevators nationwide in 1945.
The American military took over some buildings which had previously housed Japanese institutions, and soon the officers and generals began to feel great discomfort when they had to walk up to their rooms and offices. The Bando Hotel became the headquarters of the U.S. occupying force, and few generals were happy to walk to the 7th or 8th floor several times a day. Thus, they pressed for some elevator repair work, and by early 1946 the elevators began to move again ― at least, in the buildings used by the U.S. military. The work was done with the involvement of the Otis company which had been a major provider of elevators in the colonial era as well (about half of all elevators in colonial Korea were installed by Otis).
The old American Embassy became the first post-1945 building to boast newly-installed elevators. Nonetheless, well into the 1960s an elevator was still seen as a symbol of luxury, suitable only for those buildings which served the centers of political or economic power.
When in 1961 the Korean National housing corporation decided to build the first modern apartment complex in Korea, its proposal envisioned a complex of a number of 10-storey buildings each equipped with an elevator. However, the idea of having an elevator in a residential complex, not in some office or company headquarters, was seen as outrageously expensive. Under pressure from public opinion and the American sponsors, the corporation had to downscale the project and get rid of the elevators. Only in the late 1960s did a high-rise apartment with elevators become the norm.
Until the late 1970s there was a concerted effort on the part of the government to make sure that elevators did not waste too much energy. Among other things, elevators did not stop below the fourth floor, so up to the third floor everybody had to use stairs. This was also the reason why early subway stations had neither elevators nor escalators
Meanwhile, in many places elevators served as showcases. In major department stores there has been an established tradition of 'elevator girls.' These girls, clad in the company uniform, were present in the elevator cabs in most large department stores. Their job appeared to be simple: with a charming smile they had to press buttons and announce the floor number and types of merchandise sold there. But I cannot imagine how one could possibly spend day after day doing this work, perhaps more monotonous than even working on a conveyer belt. Only in the mid-1990s did the 'elevator girls' disappear: rising average wages made this glamorous but essentially unnecessary service too expensive for the owners, and the department stores decided to cut operating costs by divesting themselves of the 'elevator girls.'
The number of elevators installed in Korea has increased almost fourfold over the last decade. In 1993 there 67,376 elevators nationwide. In 2003, their numbers increased to 260,487. This was understandable: over that decade a high-rise housing complex boom ensured that it became the dwelling of choice for the expanding Korean middle class, and the average height of Korean apartment buildings increased considerably. In 2003 the average housing complex in the Greater Seoul (also known as 'Metropolitan Area") had 15.9 floors ― roughly double the level of 1993.
It has been 95 years since the first humble cargo lift began to operate in the Bank of Korea. I wonder whether somebody will notice the 100th anniversary of the arrival of elevator in Korea. Probably not.
Prof. Andrei Lankov was born in St.Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul.