Zoo History

This is a slightly different post from my usual articles here on Nostalgic Worlds. Today, I’m not writing about a fictional world that I immersed myself in when I was younger, but about a real place that I recently visited and found fascinating. The place in question is Dudley Zoo, not too far from Birmingham in the West Midlands. That in itself shouldn’t be too surprising – I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a huge animal lover, and I’ve visited (and even worked in) a number of zoos during my life. As you might expect, Dudley Zoo is home to lots of animals that I love, from wolverines and bush dogs to penguins and parrots.

But more surprisingly, during my visit, I also became interested in the history of Dudley Zoo itself – partly because it is the only zoo in the UK with a castle on its grounds, but also because it’s home to several unusual, historic structures called Tectons. The zoo leans into its history heavily: there are numerous signs around the site, telling visitors what animals used to live in the old Tecton enclosures; the educational staff deliver a castle history talk, mixed in with stories of ghosts (human and animal) that have supposedly been sighted on the zoo grounds; and, although I didn’t attend one, there are also occasional after-hours zoo history tours. For some reason, the historic side of Dudley Zoo really captured me as I was walking around the site, almost as much as the animals themselves, and I felt compelled to find out more.

The information that follows, in this post and the next, was compiled using the history signs around the zoo and an old book I found in a local library, along with a few interesting tidbits and anecdotes that I gleaned from some knowledgeable members of staff.

Long before Dudley Zoo existed, there was a castle. It was built by a French knight in the years following the Norman Conquest, and was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the following centuries. Today, the castle is little more than a ruin, but it still stands proudly on a large hill in the centre of the site (aptly referred to as Castle Hill), the limestone of which is composed of a 420-million-year-old prehistoric seabed. (I’ll be talking more about Dudley Castle in the second part.)

Proposals for a zoological garden below the ruins of Dudley Castle began in 1935, when the third Earl of Dudley owned the site. He, along with the Marsh Brothers (of the sausage-manufacturing Marsh and Baxter food company) and Captain Frank Cooper (former owner of the defunct Oxford Zoo, whose animals were amongst the first to come to Dudley), formed the first board of directors of the Dudley Zoological Society Limited. The directors set a timetable for the zoo to open in spring 1937, and the design and construction had to proceed at a rapid pace if everything was to be completed in just 18 months.

London Zoo had recently worked with the Tecton Group of architects, led by the Tbilisi-born Berthold Lubetkin; they had designed London’s Gorilla House and Penguin Pool. The success of those projects led to Tecton’s appointment at Dudley Zoo. Given free rein, they created several structures around the site – some to cater to visitors; others to house animals – all made from reinforced concrete, a material that had only recently become available. Lubetkin designed 13 different buildings and established a concept for the zoo – the idea being that visitors would be taken around the hill in a gently rising spiral, eventually reaching the castle courtyard.

It was by no means an easy project. In addition to the tight schedule, the site was steep, and the terrain was difficult. There were also unexpected engineering challenges posed by unrecorded tunnels and mines beneath the castle, created by limestone excavations in the 17th and 18th centuries. With no maps to guide the architects, there was constant danger of building on an unsafe site. In fact, during the construction of the foundations, an unexpected cave opened up beneath the bear pit.

But, despite these challenges, the zoo opened to the public on 6 May 1937. On that first day alone, 50,000 people crowded in, with at least twice that number locked outside. By the end of the first summer, the zoo had seen nearly 700,000 visitors. The main interest was, of course, the exotic animals that lived there, but for many people, it was likely to have been their first experience of what was then ‘modern architecture’.

All but one of the 13 buildings created by the Tecton Architects remain today and are now listed either Grade II or II*. These concrete structures comprise the most extensive collection of surviving Tecton buildings in the world, and their national and international importance led to their being placed on the World Monuments Fund’s watch list in 2009. I’ll be going through the 12 remaining Tecton buildings at Dudley Zoo in roughly the order I encountered them during my visit.

Zoo Entrance

When Dudley Zoo was built, there was only one possible space for the entrance building, as few areas of the sloping grounds directly connect to the street. This space sits on a narrow strip of land at the foot of the hill on which the castle sits, and as such, the depth of the building was limited. As it was necessary to provide several turnstile booths (to cope with the large numbers of visitors expected), the building was designed with a very wide street frontage. Due to the site’s sloping nature, a single flat slab roof was not suitable. Instead, dynamic, interlocking S-shaped roof canopies were created to enable the roof to flow slightly downwards, to follow the buildings they cover, and at the same time create an iconic design for the public face of the zoo.

Practical considerations, such as the need to provide shelter for queuing visitors, were taken into account, resulting in the deep overhangs of the roof canopies. The middle three kiosks were adorned with the now iconic ‘ZOO’ lettering, still present today.

More than 30 million visitors have passed through these turnstiles and ticket offices since 1937, though sadly, these gates are seldom used today. Instead, most visitors now enter the zoo through the back of the former Station Café, which also doubles as a gift shop.

Safari Café

The former Station Café was indeed how I entered the zoo during my visit. It is a long, level building with concrete framing and nine-inch-diameter columns to the frontage, which originally had four doorways. Its name came from its proximity to the railway station, which brought visitors almost to the entrance. This building is located on the lowest terrace of the zoo, with its rear set against the perimeter of the grounds. It was therefore accessible to both zoo visitors and those in the town.

The Station Café was designed to be partly open to the air. The three sections between the original four doorways were filled with an unglazed timber lattice frame. The building was formed from a flat roof slab carried by a regimented grid of concrete columns. This roof structure extended beyond the front of the building, as shown in the image above. The front, side, and rear walls were built up, set inside the extended roof slab, but stood independently, finishing some way short of the roof itself. In addition, the four entrances, each defined by a concrete frame, were left open to the elements. Five large circular roof lights were set into the ‘floating’ roof slab, three of which extruded down with wire mesh into the space, forming aviaries. At a later date, the building was fully enclosed by increasing the height of the walls to reach the roof and by infilling or glazing the open lattice sections.

Until 1995, part of the building was a fish-and-chip bar for zoo use, while the remainder was a nightclub accessible to the public outside the zoo, which closed in 2002. In 1996, the zoo side was converted into what is now known as the Safari Gift Shop and an alternative entrance to the zoo.

Chairlift

Also on the bottom level of the zoo, almost directly opposite the old Zoo Entrance, is England’s only operational vintage chairlift, which transports visitors almost to the very top of the hill. Originally launched on 11 May 1958, the ride cost passengers six pence and ran until 2002. Following a £117,000 Heritage Lottery grant, the zoo was able to restore the much-loved attraction, revamping its 41 chairs, roller, and engine. It was even repainted in its original colours. The chairlift was reopened on 24 August 2012 and remains as popular today as when it first opened, with a third of the zoo’s height-compatible visitors taking the two-minute journey between the zoo’s upper and lower levels, offering panoramic views of the area. Although it operates throughout most of the year, it stays grounded over the winter months for annual safety checks and inspections.

The chairlift has 41 numbered chairs, which are all fixed in numerical order. However, chair 20 had to be scrapped, so chair 42 took its place. And on chair 36, the number six has been fixed backwards.

Kiosks

If you decide to forego the chairlift and instead travel around and up the hill on foot (as you must do if you intend on seeing as many of the animals as possible), you will come across one of two Tecton Kiosks in the zoo. Their purpose was to provide refreshment (and cigarettes) to the zoo’s visitors. Simple structures, they are comprised of an elliptical concrete roof slab supported by slender steel columns. Beneath this is a small storeroom whose walls do not reach the roof above. The front wall of the store extends as a lower element, wrapping around to form a counter from which the public could be served. The canopy roof extends well beyond the footprint of the building on all sides, providing shelter for queuing visitors.

In 2013, a Heritage Lottery-funded project restored several of the dilapidated Tecton structures, but today’s environmental health restrictions mean the Kiosks can no longer be used for their original purpose; they now serve as display areas. Dudley Zoo’s educational team (and sometimes external organisations, too) use this particular Kiosk to engage with visitors and display interesting artefacts, such as animal skulls.

Polar Bear Complex

Almost opposite the Kiosk is what was originally the Polar Bear Complex. This Tecton structure consisted of a central bear pit, with adjoining pits for lions and tigers. The complex was built into an area of historic quarrying, in a deep ravine on the southern side of the hill. The bottom of the ravine was further excavated to create a deep enough area in which to build the polar bear pit. The central pit was provided with an elevated terrace that bridged the ravine and offered a high-level view of all three enclosures. The steeply sloping nature of the site meant that, like the other larger animal enclosures in the zoo, the design of the buildings facilitated the movement of visitors from one level to another within the grounds without an obvious steep climb.

Dudley Zoo held polar bears from opening day until 1989. All of them lived in this famous Tecton enclosure, with its curving geometric design. The circular pit featured an iceberg-shaped diving ramp that overhung a swimming pool, with off-show dens beneath the elevated visitor walkway. In its original form, the bear pit was completely inadequate for its task. Even at the zoo’s opening, it was stated that the circular design of the polar bear exhibit was in part due to the animals’ habit of ‘walking round and round’. Certainly, by the mid-1980s, it was recognised as highly unsuitable for housing polar bears; and, in any case, it had greatly deteriorated. Mosa and Pipaluk, the two polar bears that the zoo housed at the time, were relocated to Poland, and in 1989, a major repair programme on the Tecton structure began.

Polar bears never returned to Dudley Zoo. But for several years, the enclosure, heavily adapted and enhanced, was home to the elderly Inca, who, at 36 years of age, was the oldest Asiatic black bear in Europe. She lived out the rest of her twilight years in the bear pit, and today the enclosure is now home to considerably smaller polar animals, Arctic foxes and wolverines.

Reptile Pit

The Reptile Pit – a small, seemingly simple structure – was originally designed, as the name would suggest, to house small, non-territorial reptiles. Sited next to the castle, its low, unobtrusive form is respectful of its surroundings and does not obstruct the view of the castle beyond. The enclosure nestles snugly into the contour on which it is situated, bounded by a continuous low wall. There were no barriers between the public and the animals; instead, a small moat ran along the inside of the perimeter wall, preventing any escape. The curving plan and location provided uninterrupted 360-degree views of the animals.

Aside from the infilling of the internal moat, the structure remains mostly unchanged from its original form. The reptiles have been transferred to a more suitable home in the nearby Reptile House, and the enclosure is now home to a group of meerkats.

Elephant House

The Elephant House was built not only to house elephants, but also camels and, apparently, a single Shetland pony. Constructed in one of the zoo’s more sensitive locations, just outside the castle moat and in clear view from the ruins above, the Elephant House was built into the slope between two terraces to be as unobtrusive and inconspicuous as possible. The roof of the building doubled as a viewing platform and is level with the higher terrace; stairs at either end of the range provide access to the lower terrace, which once led to the interior of the building. Like the other large animal houses, it therefore had a dual purpose, both housing and displaying animals, and also cleverly linking the paths and roads at different levels.

The elephants in the house were not separated from the public by heavy bars as was usual at the time, but by a ditch and a row of spikes. As the sole of an elephant’s foot is a very tender part of its body, these animals will avoid hurting themselves on the spikes,and so they remained within their enclosure. Artificial rain was provided from the ceiling, as elephant skin can become very dry.

However, the elephants didn’t have an outdoor enclosure. They were frequently walked around the zoo, giving rides to visitors, which was believed to be sufficient stimulation and exercise. When they weren’t giving rides, they were sometimes tethered to large chains in the ground just outside the house. These chains can still be seen to this day. In time, it became clear that the Elephant House was not suitable for keeping large, intelligent animals – it wasn’t very big, for a start, and it resembled a dungeon in many regards. It ceased housing elephants in 2003, which seems shockingly recent. Although it is not currently in use (except as a storage area), a staff member I spoke to on the day of my visit confirmed that there are plans for the building to be renovated, allowing it to be used once more to exhibit animals, though obviously ones much smaller than elephants.

We’re roughly halfway through our tour of Dudley Zoo’s historic buildings, so this seems a good place to stop for now. Next time, I’ll be looking at the remaining Tecton buildings, along with Dudley Castle itself.