The Elephant and Rhino Pavilion was built as a successor to Anthony Salvin Junior's Elephant and Rhinoceros House of 1868-69. Plans for a new building had been prepared by Tecton in 1939, but the outbreak of war prevented their implementation. The site was chosen in 1950 and the building became the principal southern focus of Casson's 1958 redevelopment plan. It was built 1962-65, brief by Desmond Morris, Curator of Mammals; Sir Hugh Casson, Neville Conder and Partners, architects; John Mowlem and Company Limited, building contractors. Paddock pool added in 1971. Rhino moat altered 1988. It is Grade II listed.
The Buildings of London Zoo
Papers on the proposed new Elephant House
Correspondence with Eirwen M Owen regarding classes of membership, press statements, members of the Council of the Zoological Society of London, the XYZ Club, an article in the New Scientist about the Canal Banks and the opening of the Elephant Pavilion
Correspondence between Burnet, Tait and Lorne and Julian Sorell Huxley regarding proposed new elephant and rhinoceros houses and paddocks at the Zoological Society of London, and the proposed Tusker Elephant House at Whipsnade Zoo. Also minutes of the Whipsnade Committee 9th December 1936, and an extract from a memo on accommodation for catering staff at Whipsnade (known then as the House of Pleasant Bread)
Letters from Kenneth Clark of the National Gallery, to Julian Sorell Huxley regarding John Driberg and Lubetkin's plans for the Elephant House at the the Zoological Society of London
Correspondence between Hans Heck and Julian Sorell Huxley regarding the construction of a new Elephant House at the Zoological Society of London
Correspondence between John Spedan Lewis, of the John Lewis Partnership, and Julian Sorell Huxley regarding the design and construction of a new Elephant and Rhinoceros House at the Zoological Society of London
Correspondence between J W Milne and Julian Sorell Huxley regarding the financing of the construction of a new Elephant House, and a donation from Lord Leverhulme
Correspondence between Albert Pam and Julian Sorell Huxley regarding plans for the new Elephant House and meetings of the Lay-Out Committee
Correspondence between Julian Sorell Huxley and Stanley Reed regarding The Maharajah of Bhavnagar, plans for a new Elephant House at the London Zoological Gardens and a request for a financial contribution from The Maharajah
Letter from the building contractors Rice and Son, to Julian Sorell Huxley regarding the construction of the new Elephant House