2x Schindler Passenger Elevators @ Bellevue Palace Bern*****, Bern, BE, Switzerland

This 126-room hotel right next to the Bundeshaus (Federal Palace) and on a cliff overlooking the Aare river is the official state guesthouse of Switzerland. Originally built in 1865 by a German financier, it was rebuilt in 1912-1913 into the current neoclassical structure. It was taken over by Swiss National Bank in 1976 and gifted to the Swiss government in 1994, and is now managed by Michel Reybier Hospitality, which is also behind the Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel in Interlaken as well as La Réserve properties in Geneva and Paris. The hotel had seven floors above ground and one below. The ground floor was centered by a lobby lounge with a stained-glass ceiling reminiscent of "palm courts" in historic grand hotels around the world. On the Aare-facing side, there were several food and beverage outlets with terraces overlooking the river, consisting of all-day Brasserie VUE and adjacent Bellevue Bar, as well as a fusion restaurant called Noumi Bar & Grill (which also occupied a portion of the basement). The first floor was devoted to banquet rooms and salons. Rooms were located on floors 2-5, while the top 6th floor had a fitness center and sauna, accessible via stairs from the 5th floor. The basement, accessible via a side street, had back-of-house areas and administration aside from a section used as part of one of the restaurants. There were two passenger and two service elevators within the hotel. Among them, this video features the set of two passenger elevators at the north side of the hotel building. These were Schindler's late ACVV traction installations that replaced older elevators in 1995; while they likely used to have M-Line fixtures, their interiors had been updated some time in the 2010s. Now they had Schaefer's MT 42 buttons as well as dot-matrix indicators; one characteristic of the indicators was that their directional arrows featured scrolling effects while in motion, which seemed to be an optional add-on. Their cabs were adorned with chrome plated stainless steel and blue-colored Azul Macaubas stone. It must also be said that the ride quality was quite smooth in spite of their age, with quick acceleration and leveling typical of older Miconic installations. While floors 2 and above were restricted, there was nothing that prevented one from climbing up the adjacent stairs and at least getting a full ride down... Manufacturer: Schindler Aufzüge AG Model name: Miconic B/Dynatron-S Year of commission: 1995 Loading: 630kg (1,390lbs) Capacity: 8 persons Full speed: 1.6m/s (320FPM) Serviced floors: S, *P, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5