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Penguin Pool, London Zoo

Berthold Lubetkin buildingsBuildings and structures in Regent's ParkGrade I listed buildings in the City of WestminsterLondon ZooModernist architecture in London
Ove Arup buildings and structures
London Zoo 40394
London Zoo 40394

The Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Regent's Park is a penguin enclosure designed in the International Modernist style by Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group. Constructed in 1934, Historic England describe it as "a key symbol of British (and International) Modern Movement architecture". The pool housed the zoo's collection of penguins for 70 years. Changing attitudes to keeping animals in captivity, and concerns regarding the suitability of the structure for penguin well-being, saw the pool's closure in 2004 and its subsequent replacement by Penguin Beach. After a period of non-use, during which Lubetkin's daughter called for the structure to be "blown to smithereens", the pool was converted into a water feature. It is a Grade I listed building.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Penguin Pool, London Zoo (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Penguin Pool, London Zoo
Barclay Court, City of Westminster Marylebone

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N 51.534 ° E -0.1535 °
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Lubetkin Pool

Barclay Court
NW1 4RY City of Westminster, Marylebone
England, United Kingdom
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London Zoo 40394
London Zoo 40394
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Gorilla House
Gorilla House

The Gorilla House (later known as the "Round House") was built at London Zoo in 1932–33, on a site between Regent's Canal and the Outer Circle of Regent's Park. It was designed by the Modernist architect Berthold Lubetkin, with civil engineering assistance from Ove Arup, in the International Style. It was the first substantial building completed to a design by Lubetkin's firm, Tecton Group, and the firm's first building at London Zoo. It was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1970. The Gorilla House was commissioned to house the zoo's pair of gorillas from the Congo, Mok and Moina The main structure is based on a cylindrical drum made from 4 in (10 cm) reinforced concrete, painted white. The structure is divided into two halves, one enclosed and one open, with a semi-circular indoor winter enclosure to the north, and a low-walled open-air summer enclosure to the south surrounded by a metal cage. The entrance and exit doors are in small projecting wings to the east and west. It included a rotating semi-circular top-hung insulating screen, rotating around a central pivot and moving along rollers in a metal channel around the top of the building, that could be deployed in the winter to turn the outdoor space into a sheltered viewing area for zoo visitors, while the gorilla remained behind glass screens in their heated indoor enclosure. In the summer, the screen could be rotated away and concealed within the northern half of the structure, so the gorillas could live and viewed in the outdoor half of the structure. The northern half is lit by clerestory windows, topped by a flat asphalt roof. It opened in April 1933. The structure was later housed a series of different animals, including elephants, Kodiak bears, chimpanzees (from which the building is sometimes known as the "Chimps Breeding Colony"), koalas, aye ayes, and fruit bats. The rotating screen fell out of use and was fixed in place. After the successful Gorilla House, Tecton Group designed other structures at the zoo, including its Penguin Pool, also completed in 1934 and also listed at Grade I in 1970.

Readymoney Drinking Fountain
Readymoney Drinking Fountain

The Readymoney Drinking Fountain, also occasionally known as the Parsee Fountain, is a Grade II listed structure near the middle of the Broad Walk footpath on the east side of Regent's Park, in London. It lies southeast of London Zoo, close to the highest point of Regent's Park, about 41 metres (135 ft) above sea level, in an area with few trees, making it widely visible across the park. The drinking fountain was erected in 1869, with the £1,400 cost funded by Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, a successful Parsee businessman and philanthropist from Bombay, as a token of thanks to the people of England for their protection of the Parsees in British India. The structure was built to the Gothic design of Robert Keirle, who was the architect of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. It was constructed by the sculptor Henry Ross, using 10 tons of white marble from Sicily, and 4 tons of pink and grey granite from Aberdeen. The main four-sided structure rests on three octagonal steps. The central white marble block has a pink granite basin on each side, with granite standing blocks on the ground beside each basin. Small apertures were included at the base of the central block to allow dogs to drink. Above each basin is a carved marble panel, with one depicting a lion and another a Brahmin bull, topped by a frieze decorated with inlaid stars and a triangular pediment resembling a gable. The central block rises to a gabled spire with a decorative terminal, with three pink granite columnettes rising to a single pinnacle at each corner. Three of the gables have a carved bust, depicting Readymoney, Prince Albert, and Queen Victoria, and the fourth has a clock. The drinking fountain was unveiled on 1 August 1869 by Princess Mary of Teck; she was a granddaughter of George III, and her daughter later became Queen Mary. It was listed at Grade II in 1970, and it was restored in 1999–2000 with over £400,000 of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A modern plaque above the basin on the south face of the fountain reads: "This fountain erected by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association was the gift of Sir Cowasjee Jehangir (Companion of the Star of India), a wealthy Parsee gentleman of Bombay, as a token of gratitude to the people of England for the protection enjoyed by him and his Parsee fellow countrymen under the British rule in India. Inaugurated by H.R.H. Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck, 1869. Restoration supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund 1999 – 2000.Further restoration work was undertaken in 2016 and 2017. The water no longer runs, but a modern drinking fountain has been installed nearby.

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library

The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodicals, audio-visual materials, photographic images and sound recordings, as well as manuscripts, field notes, transcriptions etc. of a number of collectors of folk music and dance traditions in the British Isles. According to A Dictionary of English Folklore, "... by a gradual process of professionalization the VWML has become the most important concentration of material on traditional song, dance, and music in the country." It is named after Ralph Vaughan Williams, the composer, collector and past president of the EFDSS, who died in 1958. Prior to that it was known as the Cecil Sharp Library, since his books constituted the bulk of the original holdings, but over the years the library has added literature, sound and manuscript collections of other folklorists and collectors such as Lucy Broadwood, Janet Blunt, Anne Gilchrist, George Butterworth, the Hammond brothers and George Gardiner. It also contains copies of the papers and notebooks of Sabine Baring-Gould, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Alfred Williams and James Madison Carpenter; and the field recordings of Percy Grainger, Mike Yates and the BBC Folk Music Archive. Subjects covered include: Folk/traditional/popular song, Child Ballads, Broadside ballads, Industrial/occupational songs, sea songs/shanties, singing games, Nursery rhymes, Street cries, Carols/hymns, Rounds/glees/part songs, Music hall, Ritual/ceremonial dance, Morris dance/sword dance and a great deal more.