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apollonaut. Built by People Who've Been

Journal / History

History, people & animals

A society for science.
A zoo in Regent’s Park.

The story of London Zoo, from the gardens of the Zoological Society of London in 1828 to the zoo you can visit today.

Two giraffes outside the brick Giraffe House at London Zoo, with its tall arched doorways, on a sunny day
Giraffes outside Decimus Burton’s Giraffe House, completed in 1837.

A society and its gardens

The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles and Humphry Davy. Its gardens in Regent’s Park opened on 27 April 1828, at first only to the society’s Fellows, with grounds laid out by the architect Decimus Burton.

Two giraffes looking out of the tall arched doors of the Giraffe House at London Zoo
The curving white walls and oval pool of the Penguin Pool at London Zoo, designed by Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton

Opening to the public

Burton’s Giraffe House was completed in 1837 and is still in use. The zoo opened to the public in 1847, and went on to open the first reptile house in 1849, the first public aquarium in 1853 and the first insect house in 1881.

Landmarks of a new century

The Mappin Terraces were completed in 1914. In the 1930s Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton designed the Gorilla House and the Penguin Pool, and in the 1960s came Hugh Casson’s elephant and rhino pavilion and the Snowdon Aviary, which reopened as Monkey Valley in 2022.

Looking up at the tall steel masts and mesh of the former Snowdon Aviary, now Monkey Valley, against a blue sky

Continue exploring

The curving white walls and oval pool of the Penguin Pool at London Zoo, designed by Berthold Lubetkin and TectonBuildings worth noticingFrom Burton to Lubetkin and Casson.A gorilla on the grass among bare tree trunks and wooden climbing frames in the gorilla enclosure at London ZooWhat to see at the zooGorillas, big cats and penguins.Plan your visit

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