Crypto News: A historic elevator caught up in UK housing push

The oldest working elevator in London could be nearing its final stop. Having carried residents, including actor Benedict Cumberbatch, to and from their homes for over a century, the landmark is caught up in a battle between homeowners who want to preserve it and developers who want to demolish it to make room for luxury apartments.

Efforts by the Labour government to ease Britain's housing crunch have developers rushing to get projects approved. The goal of ambitious building targets is affordability, but some elite projects are seeking to seize the moment and get the green light from authorities that are under pressure. The plan for the roughly 135-year-old Palace Place Mansions — a Victorian-era mansion block where Cumberbatch's parents still live — is to get rid of the elevator and add a new floor with four flats that would likely cost more than £2 million ($2.5 million) each, Damian Shepherd reports. Today on CityLab: Historic London Elevator Faces Last Stop in Labour's Housing Push

— Magdalena del Valle

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