To serve all the sumptuous state dinners, the dumbwaiter connecting the state of the art kitchen in the basement to the grand dining room on the first floor will give the wait staff a faster and more economical way to deliver the food to the guests.
Peter Dolan from the manufacturer, Atlas Elevator Company of Chicago, and Chuck Bailey, the installation contractor from the Virginia Elevator Company of Richmond, are on hand to elaborate on some of the specifications of the dumbwaiter and its installation. Dumbwaiters are becoming increasingly popular in residential use but are a necessity in the Executive Mansion, making it possible to serve the hundreds of guests in a reasonable amount of time. Located in the basement, near the kitchen, the dumbwaiter is encased in a chimney like structure for extra fire protection.
Peter Dolan gives Bob some of the specifics about the dumbwaiter, starting with the box or carrier. The platform is 3' by 3' and the box is 4' in height. Code specifications are 9 square feet with a 500 lb. capacity. The dumbwaiter opens down to floor level allowing serving carts to be rolled in and out of the carrier.
The 2 hp motor is located above the dumbwaiter as is all the machinery designed to operate it. Code does not specify that it be encased in masonry, though in case of a kitchen fire it would help stop the fire from traveling up through the rest of the mansion. The doors are constructed with United Laboratories B label material, which would take 1 1/2 hours to burn through the front part of the door and also 1 1/2 hours to burn through the backside.
Virginia Elevator is known for handling the tough jobs, and locating the dumbwaiter next to an original stairway with space and time considerations falls into that category.
The cost of the dumbwaiter unit ranges between $11,000 and $12,000, with installation adding another $7,000 to $8,000 to the price—a small price to pay for hot food to hundreds of guests.
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Executive Mansion - 
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