facilities renewal master plan - National Zoo - Smithsonian Institution

FACILITIES MASTER PLAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
8. 1937 Small Mammal House
9. 1937 Stone Shop Building or Propagation Building
10. 1940 Mane Restaurant
11. Stone Guard House
12. Camel Building
13. Peccaries
14. Police Station/Public Restrooms
15. Holt House
16. Holt House stone retaining wall
17. Stone Flood Gate House (Rock Creek Parkway)
18. Hoofed Stock Exhibit (1937)
Several design philosophies characterize the buildings at the National Zoo. Historically,
the early years of the National Zoo and its philosophical direction was to provide a
natural animal preserve for those endangered species of North American animals that
were quickly disappearing. Buildings were constructed to blend in with the natural
environment, but also to be distinctive to the animal’s heritage. For example, the Buffalo
Barn was constructed in the fashion of a log cabin – rustic, and stereo-typically
American. The Lion House was also rustic – a rough cut stone masonry building with a
low profile, but strong, majestic, and massive – words that also come to mind when
describing lions. While neither of these buildings remain today, the philosophy of
balancing the structures with the environment is an on-going theme that architects and
planners have wrestled with over the last century.
The 1920s saw a change in the direction of the principle structures and their architectural
style. The National Zoo had shifted from more of a natural preserve, to an entertainment
and recreational venue. The wellbeing of the animals was still at the forefront, however,
the method of presenting and blending the architecture with the environment took on a
different form. Instead of the buildings blending into the environment, the theory was to
engage the public openly with the architecture, and that the architecture should bridge
and beckon the public to the animals. Buildings of this period are fanciful – the door to
the Reptile House is adorned with classical architectural building elements, until one gets
close and sees that the capital is topped with a lizard, or the base of a column rests on a
tortoise.
The National Zoo benefited from the national work programs that were established
during the Depression to stimulate the economy. During the 1930s, several major
buildings were constructed including the completion of the Bird House, the Small
Mammal House and the Elephant House as well as several support structures. Building
on the success of the public’s reaction to the fanciful Reptile House and the Bird House,
the Small Mammal House and Elephant House held similar design elements such as
massing and scale, but are more restrained in details. The 1930s doubled the amount of
permanent buildings on the National Zoo site.
With the onset of World War II, assets and resources were diverted into the war effort
and the National Zoo worked with reduced personnel and a smaller budget. The only
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