I was only about six years old when the old Hippopotamus House was demolished in 1960 and even more than half-a-century on I still have very vivid memories of seeing the hippos there; it was always my favourite part of the zoo as a small child.
I can hardly remember the Hippos visually but the smell from the Pool- that was something else- I can remember people come out with glazed expressions and hankies over their faces.
I have always liked the rather museum-like 'feel' of the indoors of ZSL's Giraffe House, the smell, the hay, the silent graceful Giraffes, the House sparrows chirping(at one stage there were several pure white Sparrows in this colony). To me it represents the 'classic' Giraffe House and despite its age was remarkably well designed.
I too am very fond of this exhibit but if you look back at comments made about it on here, they have been negative to say the least. There has been continued, gradual development since the 1970s and ultimately I think this is probably the oldest enclosure in the UK that is still in use for the species for which it was designed. Yes, it could be better but so could everything! I think it is one of the most interesting buildings in the country and one that was not messed up by modernisation when the Cotton Terraces were developed.
