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Photo, Print, Drawing National Zoological Park, Elephant House, 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

View 27 images in sequence.
[ Photos from Survey HABS DC-777-C  ]

More Resources

View 11 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS DC-777-C  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS DC-777-C  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS DC-777-C  ]

About this Item

Title

  • National Zoological Park, Elephant House, 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Mann, William M
  • Clark, Edwin Hill
  • Knight, Charles R
  • Mortellito, Domenico
  • Olmsted & Eliot
  • Manhattan Terrazzo Brass Strip Co.
  • Lombard & Ludwig, Inc.
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • Public Works Administration
  • Treasury Relief Art Project
  • Price, Virginia B, transmitter
  • Schara, Mark, project manager
  • Davidson, Paul, field team supervisor
  • Byerly, Wendy, delineator
  • Price, Virginia B, historian
  • Rosenthal, James W, photographer
  • Teeter, Amy, delineator
  • Smithsonian Institution, National Zoological Park, Office of Engineering Design and Construction/Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations, sponsor

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  zoos
  • -  zoo animals
  • -  public works
  • -  Works Progress Administration
  • -  District Of Columbia -- District Of Columbia -- Washington

Notes

  • -  Significance: In William Mann's "A Brief History of the Zoo," penned in 1946 while he was director, he wrote that "in 1935 the Zoo had a great stroke of good luck [when] the Public Works Administration allotted $680,000 and followed this the next year with $191,000, with which were constructed machine shops, a central heating plant and working facilities, a small mammal house, and a pachyderm house; the bird house was completed, thus giving the Zoo four of the best buildings in the world [...]." Of these, the Pachyderm House or as it is popularly known, the Elephant House, was a pivotal design for the exhibition buildings in the Zoo. It was the last to use historicism as a source of its architectural expression (classicism) and to have expressive ornament. It was the first exhibit to have moats defining the outdoor yards and so aligned the Zoo with contemporary or modern practice. Mann also turned to architect Edwin H. Clark of Chicago for the building's design. Clark had experience with other zoological parks, namely Lincoln Park and the Chicago Zoological Gardens (Brookfield Zoo), before working on the National Zoo's Pachyderm House. While a seminal exhibition feature for the Zoo, the Elephant House is also a testament to the Depression-era and to the work relief programs and to the increased emphasis on outdoor spaces for healthful recreation of the 1930s designed to mitigate the straightened circumstances of so many. The Works Projects Administration provided laborers, the federal art project (here, the Treasury Relief Art Project) funded Charles R. Knight's sculptural work, and the Public Works Administration supplied the money for construction in Washington's National Zoological Park. Of the construction, Mann proclaimed in 1937 that the PWA grants enabled "probably the most outstanding [year] in the history of the Zoo." The exhibition buildings erected in the 1930s gave greater comfort to the animals and lent the Zoo a sense of architectural import commiserate with the natural beauty of its setting. In plan, the Elephant House is designed around a large central, rectangular public viewing space. Two entrance pavilions along the north side flank a series of small enclosures and pools, originally designed for tapirs and pygmy hippos. A series of large enclosures along the south side were built to accommodate elephants and rhinoceroses. A large enclosure at the west end was built for giraffes, and the one at the east end for a Nile hippopotamus. The east end also had a pool. The Elephant House was built with poured-in-place concrete foundations. Steel framing supports the brick penthouse and roof above the central hall. Interior partition walls between the animal enclosures were built of poured-in-place concrete. Exterior walls were load-bearing, rubble-stone masonry construction. Cut limestone was used for the quoins and entrance pavilions or loggias. Renovations in 1975 added a viewing platform to the east end; further changes in 1988 added another platform to the west end. Skylights were inserted above the viewing platforms at this time as well.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1023
  • -  Survey number: HABS DC-777-C
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1935-1937 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: before 1951 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1974-1976 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1988 Subsequent Work
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 73002104

Medium

  • Photo(s): 27
  • Measured Drawing(s): 11
  • Data Page(s): 53
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 2

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS DC-777-C

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • dc1027

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS DC-777-C
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

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    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

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  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
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  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
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      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
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  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, William M Mann, Edwin Hill Clark, Charles R Knight, Domenico Mortellito, Olmsted & Eliot, Manhattan Terrazzo Brass Strip Co, et al., Rosenthal, James W, photographer. National Zoological Park, Elephant House,Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC. Washington D.C. Washington, 1933. translateds by Price, Virginia Bmitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/dc1027/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Mann, W. M., Clark, E. H., Knight, C. R., Mortellito, D., Olmsted & Eliot [...] Smithsonian Institution, N. Z. P., Rosenthal, J. W., photographer. (1933) National Zoological Park, Elephant House,Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC. Washington D.C. Washington, 1933. Price, V. B., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/dc1027/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographer by Rosenthal, James W. National Zoological Park, Elephant House,Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC. trans by Price, Virginia Bmitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/dc1027/>.