Antique Elevator Table

#shorts This table was built during the time of Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, allowing people to eat without servants around.

Credit: @saintpgo
📸: @elmira_ku_

[il]

When you’re upset with your servants but you still want them to serve you dinner

[da]

>no need of servants
>Look downstairs
>Servants

[puppiesandkittens]

Imagine you haven't finished when suddenly your plate disappears.

[nouno]

This system is more about engineering than architecture.

[pamelag]

This table was built during the time of Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, allowing people to eat without servants around. (From the video description.) But more likely allowing them to discuss state secrets without eavesdropping servant/spies nearby.

[ogrehaslayers]

Servants were absolutely still needed.

[Exis]

You'd be surprised by how much effort they went through to avoid having to see servants.

[sammyann]

What an amazing invention. The hard work it saved the domestic help! Going back & forth with dishes isn’t all that easy. Don’t know why people are taking it so negatively!!🤷🏻‍♀️ setting up a table & just lifting it all up in one go is a marvelous invention! I would love to have it when I have guests over it would save me all the trips to kitchen & back to the dining table 😅

[IberianCraftsman]

Servants WERE needed, you just didn't see them

[metaltwister]

Some years back I read an article in Town and Country magazine about how to keep the staff invisible in your home from family and guests. At first I thought it was satire but no it was serious. Even with suggestions on providing the staff objects to hide behind while family, etc walk by. Such as Planters, bushes, trees, screens, bookshelves or just stand perfectly still with their eyes and heads down. Guess mimicking the protocol at Buckingham Palace. This must wear greatly on the staff.

[unrulysue]

If I were a servant, I probably wouldn't want to see nobles, either.

[bodhi-swayze]

What a marvellous idea, I for one completely lose my appetite having to see servants around my banquets! 😂

[jpfoto]

It shows how far the nobility stood from the people they governed

[vincentrusso]

Aint nobody trying to see peasants while we are eating. 😂

[bennybenicasa]

Well... You still need servants... you just don't have to see them.

[themed_entertainment]

I've only read about this and seen illustrations but never looked into it further - this is really cool!

[oneearthan]

This is what House Elves did in Harry Potter

[stevemueller]

Later they added chairs where some guests could be removed to the dungeon...without having to stand up.😢😂

[BransonandBeyond]

Splendid! I always lose my appetite when I have to look at the help old chap

[markhottman]

The Dining Room table has a “ Dumb waiter” and a “ Lazy Susan”.