Ziggy--Brookfields Famous Elephant

Elephant spends 30 years in solitary - Oct 22, 1971 - Google Books Result

Ziggy (elephant) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The obsidian carving above, in a replica of the elephant exhibit at Brookfield Zoo is a memorial to Ziggy(although it has two complete tusks so it it not too accurate). Supposedly the tusks are carved from pieces of Ziggy's actual ivory. It is at the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Chicago and his bones were delivered to the Field Museum in Chicago. They are off exhibit and no photo's allowed of them. I wonder if his impressive ivory went there also, or if it went someplace else.

Question for John Milton Herriott--Was Slim Lewis a "real pro" or was he a "kinda pro"? Did his "pro" status or lack there of change depending on whether he was working at a zoo or at a circus? You raised a good point about elephant safety and I think it would be beneficial if your ideas were discussed further.

Vintage Brookfield Zoo

Photo above from 1921 shows the beginning of Brookfield Zoo

Photo above from 1934 shows the Australia House in the foreground and Elephant house back center.


Photo above from 1958 shows the Pachyderm House in the center.

Brookfield Zoos Historic Art Deco Pachyderm House--Interior

Unfortunately I don't have dates for these photos, but the top photo and the bottom one are the two oldest. The ones in the middle are after the effort was made to "lighten" up the building with the expanding of exhibits and the African paintings on the wall. If you were blind you would know what building you were in. The cornucopia of smells combining elephant, rhino, tapir, hippo was indeed a sensation. The clip above from 1956 has footage starting at 1:12 of the dark interior of the building.

Brookfield Zoos Historic Art Deco Pachyderm House--Exterior

Brookfields Pachyderm house is now closed for renovations. A huge, monstrous building that while being a monument to the architect, was horrible for the animals. Over the years some of the dividing walls were removed to make bigger indoor exhibits, and pastel colors painted on the walls with scenes of African Acacia forests. Chicago was still flying from the great Century of Progress World Fair in 1933 and I think alot of that "rush" carried over to the zoo and their buildings which opened in 1934. Brookfield was the first zoo in North America to exhibit Pandas. As often happens when an architect builds a "monument to self" the zoo staff and the animals have been the one's putting up with it's shortcomings. Luckily many of these historic building are given landmark status or they would go the way of the Monkey House at the Melbourne Zoo. What a shame and a terrible loss. The clip above at the Brookfield Zoo in 1935 has some footage of the outdoor elephant exhibit starting at 3:21.

For John Milton

30th Monte Carlo Circus Festival silver 2006




35th Monte Carlo Circus Festival gold 2011

Vintage Melbourne Zoo Update

James Northfield Poster--1939

On Jan. 29, 2011 I posted thread's with photo's of the Art Deco entrance at the Melborne Zoo(type Melbourne in the search bar on the top left) as well as vintage pictures of the Melbourne Zoo. I noted that there was at one time a "monkey house" that I had never seen pictures of, and it has sense been torn down. I asked if anyone had access to any photo's of the the building and Robin Grow, President Art Deco & Modernism Society was kind enough to respond with these great pictures as well as an article, below that he had authored about the monkey house. I had always assumed in reading about it, that it was a building that housed monkey, and was surprised to learn that it was more like a monkey island with surrounding walls, very similar as I learned to the Lubetkin Penguin Pool at the London Zoo. The lettering on the front of the monkey house is exactly like the lettering on the Brookfield Zoo elephant house also. Great photos and article, and I thank Robin very much for sharing them and will look forward to his insight on Art Deco in the zoo world. I am continually amazed at the changing "styles" of zoo architecture.





Kangaroo and Polar Bear statues on either side of the entrance gate at the Melbourne Zoo


Photo's courtesy of Robin Grow

Flavio Togni--Festival International du Cirque de Monte Carlo 2011

Congratulations Flavio, on being awarded a much deserved gold. which has been unjustifiably allusive for many years.