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Mappin Terraces
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- The Mappin Terraces are the Zoo's largest and most prominent feature. They were built as 'an installation for the panoramic display of wild animals' in the form of artificial mountains. This 'naturalistic' approach to animal display, which derived from the work of Carl Hagenbeck in Hamburg, was intended to improve living conditions for the animals and viewing conditions for the visitors. It was built 1913-14, designed by Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell; funded by John Newton Mappin; John James Joass, architect; Alexander Drew, engineer; D G Somerville and Company, reinforced-concrete contractors. Resurfaced and screens on steps remade 1968-72, John Toovey, architect. Vacated 1985. Grade II listed. The Mappin Terraces now house the Outback exhibit.
It closed in July 1985 when the bears left. It reopened as Bear Mountain in 1997. Reopened again as the Outback Exhibit in 2008 with Wallabies and Emus.
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Mappin Cafe
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- The Mappin Cafe is at the lower (south) angle of the Mappin Terrraces, a small quadrant within the larger quadrant. This 'tea pavilion', in Italian Renaissance style, was part of the 1913 scheme but, at Mappin's request, it was left 'until the best possible provision has been made for the animals'. Work began just before the outbreak of World War One, but was postponed for six years before being completed to modified plans. It was built 1914-20, funded by John Newton Mappin; John James Joass, architect. Closed 1985. Grade II listed. The cafe was refurbished in 2003.
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Aquarium
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- The Aquarium is housed under the Mappin Terraces. The space had been set aside for an aquarium from 1913 when the Terraces were laid out, but detailed planning was deferred by war until 1921-22. Briefs were provided following visits to aquariums in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Berlin and Dresden. It was built 1923-24, brief by E G Boulanger, Curator of Reptiles; John James Joass, architect; Alexander Gibb and Partners, engineers; J Jarvis and Sons Limited, building contractors; Joan Beauchamp Procter, rockwork design; cost around £55,000. Refaced to west 1951, and to east 1965, Franz Stengelhofen, architect. Grade II listed. The Aquarium closed on 22 October 2019. Some animals were moved to a new aquarium at Whipsnade Zoo, while others were set to be housed in a new corals exhibit in the B.U.G.S. building in 2020.
Electricity was installed in the rest of the Zoo when the Aquarium was built.
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Southern Aviary
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- The Southern Aviary of 1905 is the largest of the Zoo's early aviaries. It was an early attempt to provide a natural environment for birds, giving them space for free flight. The landscaping of artificial rockwork and ponds, with mature willows, was a reordering of what had been the Southern Ponds from about 1860.
The Southern Aviary was demolished circa 2008 for the Giant Tortoises.
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Gibbon Cage and Cockatoo Aviary
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- The Gibbon Cage (treated here was it it were an aviary because of its physical form) and the Cockatoo Aviary are similar structures. The Gibbon Cage has springy trapeze bars to provide the gibbons with the opportunity to exercise by arm swinging the length of the cage. When built this was the longest artificial gibbon run in the world. Built 1960-62, Franz Stengelhofen, architect. Pool bases landscaped 1981. Demolished in 2003.
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Sea Lion Pond and Viewing Stand
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- The Sea Lion Pond, formed for sea lions and penguins, was London Zoo's first attempt at naturalistic, or Hagenbeckian, outdoor display and was based on similar structures in Paris and Cologne. Its design, in principle if not in detail, may be due to Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, the Zoo's principal exponent of this type of naturalism. Built 1905. Viewing stand, dens and kiosk added 1967, Franz Stengelhofen, architect. Kiosk awning added 1989-90. Pond remade 1992.
Demolished circa 2013 for Tiger Territory.
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Prairie Marmot Enclosure
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- The Prairie Mar mot Enclosure was formed as a Coypu Pond and built with the Insect House to the north. At the time of its construction it was a novel display because it was free of bars or fencing. It was built 1912-13, with funding from Sir James K Caird. Relandscaped 1983.
Altered in 2003 to incorporate a large otter enclosure.
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Reptiliary
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- The Reptiliary was originally an Otter Pond, the forming of which followed on from the opening of the adjacent West Tunnel in 1920. The otters were rehoused in 1969 and the pond was refitted for two black beavers donated to the Queen by the Hudson's Bay Company and passed on to the Zoo in 1970. Subsequently the enclosure was converted for iguanas. Built 1922. Remade 1971, John Toovey, architect; plaque designed by Banks and Miles, cut by David Kindersley. Converted 1992.
Outdoor exhibit built over 2014.
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Mongoose Enclosure
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- The small open enclosure south east of the Elephant and Rhino Pavilion was built in 1922 as a racoon enclosure and used for red pandas before passing to mongooses. It consists of a grassy mound within a reinforced concrete octagonal retaining wall. This wall has an inwardly splayed upper lip to prevent escape. An ailanthus tree at the centre of the mound was uprooted in the destructive storm of October 1987.
Demolished and area used for the new Children's Zoo in 1995.
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Penguin Pool
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- The Penguin Pool was built on the site of goose paddocks. The commission for its design went to Tecton and followed the reception given to their revolutionary Gorilla House. Lubetkin was given liberty to design an exhibition piece, a non-naturalistic stage for the antics of the penguins that avoids any appearance of caging. Built 1934, brief by Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, Secretary, Dr Geoffrey Marr Vevers, Superintendent, and David Seth-Smith, Curator of Birds and Mammals; Tecton (Berthold Lubetkin and Lindsey Drake), architects; J L Kier and Company (with Ove Arup and Felix Samuely as structural engineers), general contractors. Cost about £2,000. Refurbished 1985-87, Avanti Architects (John Allan), with Berthold Lubetkin and Arup Associates. Cost about £280,000, with grants from English Heritage and Peter Palumbo. Grade I listed.
The Penguins were moved to a pool on Barclay Court in 2004. Penguin Beach opened in 2011.
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