apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I live on the top floor of an edwardian in San Francisco and there is a fairly large lever at the top of the stairs that is meant to unlock/open the front door at the base of the stairs.

When I pull the lever, I can hear the mechanism in the front door area working, but it doesn't actually do anything. Does anyone know what this is called or who to contact if I wanted to have this fixed?

Thank you!