Many houses in Wellington, New Zealand are built on steep hills where access by stairway from the street involves a long climb which is especially difficult when carrying things. More than a hundred private cable cars made by companies such as Access Automation carry people and cargo up these steep hills. Some are shared among properties and have multiple stops, like an elevator.
The old section of Muir Beach, California, where I lived from 1988–1991, had a number of houses with manually cranked systems for hauling cargo from street level to houses on steep slopes. Some were as simple as a wagon with a winch at the top to haul it up and let it down. People had to use the stairs.