Irony: Walking up to the elevator

Elevators generally have a few basic purposes.
1.  Getting people who can't or don't want to take the stairs from one level to another.
2.  Get heavy stuff up and down so that people don't need to carry it.

So, I was amused to find that, in the apartment building I spend several days in, I needed to walk up 23 steps to get to the elevator.  And, once I got to my destination level, I needed to head up another half-flight of stairs to the destination apartment.  Not particularly useful for people who can't or don't want to take the stairs.

View up the elevator.  There are 7 steps to get to the level I stood on to take the photo. 

View from the apartment door down to the elevator. 

But, I thought, maybe they're really only there for heavy loads.  Well, not only does someone with, say, a piano, not want to walk up 23 stairs to get to the elevator, but the elevator is also too small to carry large items.  Sure, you can put a bag of potatoes in it, but with dimensions that don't exceed four feet square, it cannot carry furniture.  In fact, most pieces of furniture wouldn't fit in because the door is extremely narrow, certainly less then 2 feet wide. 

The stairs aren't the only challenge.  First, there's the light (or lack there of).  (In my photos, the flash is helping out.)  Normally, it's dark until the motion sensor detects me.  Inside the elevator, there is no light at night.  And second, the final three steps are *really shallow*.  As in, if I stand on the steps, my heels aren't on the step.

Which makes me wonder what the point of the elevator is.  I don't know when the building was built, but if it was after the Great Patriot War (aka WWII) I'd think that at least a few veterans could have used an elevator.  And parents with baby carriages could use on (and a larger elevator).

Then again, the elevator only works if the electricity works, and that hasn't always been the case.