Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-29

ultil now the repCueS III Uncte SAM
own Zoo In Washington, one Of the
rareSt and most valuable collections
In captivity, have been without q
home Of their own. Virtually hidden
Away in bare and inadequate cages and cases,
those that have been placed in public view have
had to share subordinate living quarters in an
animal house. while many other fine specimens
have been held in the obscurity OF storage
room. Lack OF accommodations has made IL
impOSsible to exhibit this most interesting
branch of the Zoos family to proper advantage
All this is soon to be changed The mighty
serpents and venomous snakes, poisonous lizards
and salamandess. giant sea turtles and many
other strange and beautifully marked creatures
of the reptile group are going to spend the
rest Of their captive days in q palace.
In spacious new building, where the newest
end latest methods Of temperature control,
Ventilation and scientific lighting will be EN-
ployed to reproduce as nea:ly as possible the
normal living conditions of each specimen. they
will be shown exactly as they live in their
natural state.
Striking in its architectural splendor, moat-
surrounded palace of Italian mocaic with inte-
rior walls Of marble. terrsZ2o floors and care
fully executed exhibition dens and spaces, sug-
gesting tropical deserts. jungle swamplands,
undersea vistas and typical scenes from the
Wilds of many countries the new reptile house
any building of its kind in the world.
Final plans for this amazing new building to
cost over 100000 have just been completed by
A. L. Harris, District architect, after many
months of painstaking study in America and
abroad, and have been approved by the Fine
Arts Commission. 1t is to be built in the heart
of the Zoo, on the site>of the old bird house.
which is soon to be RACED, and is expected
to be ready for the public next year.
WHEN the prcject OF constructing a new
reptile house was first taken into conSid-
Grafton officials of the Smithsonian Institution,
under whose jurisdiction the National ZoOlogi-
cal Park is maintained, decided that an ex-
tensiye study be made of the reptile houses
in the principal geological gardens of the United
States and Europe.
Thus in April d.. William M. Mann, famous
animal hunter and director Of the Zoo, accom-
panied by Mr. Harris, who had been chosen
to make the plans, sailed for Europe on an
Inspection tour of foreign ZOOS.
Their itinerary included the great London
zoo, the Paris zoo, the Berlin zoo and the ZOOS
in Hanover. Hamburg, Stellegen, Copenhagen,
Munich, Leipzig, Vienna, Dresden, Nuremberg,
Frankfort Cologne, Amsterdam, Rotterdam
Elberfeldt and other cities, where they collected
valuable data. made copious notes and took
hundreds of photographs.
:, Particular importance is attached to the de-
sign, of the new reptile house here, as 1t is to
be an architectural model for the group of new
buildings IN the program for the proposed de-
SelOpment and extension of the National Zoo
Consequently, Dr. Mann and Mr.. Harris not
only devoted their attention to the reptile COL
g aectiOnS and the facilities for housing them,
but they studied infinitely all the features and
advantages Of each geological garden in general
" They noted striking landscape effects and the
arrangement Of animals in groups on hillSides
i'm valleys and in pits. They saw uncaged
monkey colonies and Islands and animals sep
arated from the public only by water-motc5
They saw extensive lakes and ponds for water
fowls and aquatic animals, and they noted
eiabOrately decorated entrances and houses;
4. zoo bandstands where daily concerts are held,
and spacious restaurants and outdoor refresh
.:Saept gardens where Zoo visitors stopped for
luncheon.
In the Berlin zoo they were struck by the
bright color Of the houses and the freScoes of
painted animals which gave more the effect
Of circus than ECO. In Copenhagen they