The beloved gatekeepers to one of Melbourne’s iconic art hubs, Swanston Street’s Nicholas Building, will soon lose their jobs as the building’s property management company, Gross Waddell, moves to convert the antique elevators to automatic.
Dimitri Bradas and Joan McQueen are the jovial lift attendants who accompany visitors and the building’s tenants as they go up and down the ten-storey buildings. Their equally cheerful lifts are famous for the colourful decorations which includes photos donated by the tenants, fake plants and the not-so-conventional elevator music coming from a CD player hooked up in one corner of the lift. Mr Bradas is an artist who has worked on lift No.3 for six years and who used to have his own studio in the building.
Meanwhile, Ms Mcqueen has worked there since 1977 and is very much a stalwart of the charming building. Both are dearly loved by visitors and tenants alike, which includes 100 artists, small galleries and quirky small businesses. Both attendants have come to terms with the removal of the rickety yet charming lifts, although they have declined to comment. In fact, the removal of the antique lifts has resulted in a petition called Keep the Lift Attendants in the Nicholas Building.
