Most everyone knows about “Lucy,” the elephant hotel built in 1882 in Atlantic City. There was also an elephant hotel located on Coney Island. It was built in 1885 by James V. Lafferty, the same man who had built “Lucy.” (I once read that the building plans were patented, but these are the only two elephant hotels I am aware of.) |
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Coney Island Elephants #2
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Lafferty's elephant on Coney Island was a financial failure. Yes, it was patented in 1882, you can readily find the patent elsewhere. At one time the elephant ended up under the management of C. A. Bradenburgh, who owned a dime museum in Philadelphia [where Jumbo was once exhibited]. James A. Bailey's brother-in-law, Joseph T. McCaddon, was also involved with the Coney Island elephant. Eventually the place was abandoned to the railroad which owned the real estate. Lorenzo Shaw later erected a combination elevator and roller coaster ride apparatus that encircled the elephant, placing it in the midst of an encircling timber track. It created a vision that suggested something out of Gulliver's Travels. You can see parts of the Shaw Channel Chute in the other image.
When Circus World was first announced, a number of artist sketches were published, showing what the finished park would look like. One of the proposed features was a large building in the shape of an elephant. (Was it being planned as a hotel?)
Chappie pointed out to me the very spot the elephant was to be constructed explaining that this just happened to be the highest point in Central Florida and the elephant's howdah would be a restaurant where, on a clear day, the diners could see the Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Gulf of Mexico to the West.
This project might have funded had there been an opportunity to "See the Elephant!"
No idea.
Wish we had a better look at him.
Post a Comment