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PENGUIN POOL

PENGUIN POOL, OUTER CIRCLE NW1

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: I
List Entry Number:: 1225665
Date first listed:: 13-Sep-1970
List Entry Name:: PENGUIN POOL
Statutory Address:: PENGUIN POOL, OUTER CIRCLE NW1

User submitted image — Uploaded by Heather Gordon This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.

Date:: 2000-04-06
Reference:: IOE01/99024/08
Rights:: © Mr Dan Woodrow. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: I
List Entry Number:: 1225665
Date first listed:: 13-Sep-1970
List Entry Name:: PENGUIN POOL
Statutory Address 1:: PENGUIN POOL, OUTER CIRCLE NW1
Statutory Address 2:: PENGUIN POOL, REGENT'S PARK NW1
Statutory Address 3:: PENGUIN POOL, ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS NW1

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: PENGUIN POOL, OUTER CIRCLE NW1
Statutory Address:: PENGUIN POOL, REGENT'S PARK NW1
Statutory Address:: PENGUIN POOL, ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS NW1

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Greater London Authority
District:: City of Westminster (London Borough)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: TQ 28173 83293

Details

TQ 2883 NW ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS 15/3 REGENT'S PARK NW1 14.9.70 CITY OF WESTMINSTER Penguin Pool

I

Penguin pool. 1934, by Lubetkin and Tecton with Ove Arup as consultant structural engineer to the architects and Felix Samuely as consultant engineer to the contractors, J.L. Kier. The Penguin pool was the second commission Lubetkin and Tecton received from the Zoological Society, followed the same year with work for the Society at Whipsnade. Reinforced concrete; interior surfaces have slate-paved steps, "plastic rubber" (cork chippings, rubber and cement) to flat pool surrounds and exposed concrete finish to ramps. Elliptical pool, with cantilevered interlocking spiral ramps and elliptical enclosure with parapet rising to form framed viewing aperture, canopied at one end. The 2 interlocking but independant ramps are cantilevered over 14.021 metres without intermediate support, their depth ranging from 152 mm to only 76mm. At the head of one of the ramps is a glass fronted diving tank. The concrete of the ramps was designed to be permanently wetted by a revolving fountain. A key symbol of British (and International) Modern Movement architecture and of notable structural and technical virtuosity for its time, the design pursues the behaviourist and environmental research programme of the Gorilla House q.v. as the basis for creating a dynamic and almost abstract architectural showcase for the display of the penguins' antics. Lubetkin and Tecton, Architecture and Social Responsibility: Peter Coe and Malcolm Reading.

Listing NGR: TQ2817383293

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 207753
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Coe, P, Reading, M, Lubetkin and Tecton Architecture and Social Commitment, (1981)
Other
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 17 Greater London

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.