London Zoo 1904 Lion House Tour

[@tlowthion4]

I remember us trying to figure out how that bridge worked - I seem to recall my response was "it cant have been a bridge on wheels that's madness!" Amazing to see the work you've done on this!

[@ralphthestick]

Other than mesh sides, your original sketch was bang on though!

[@sparrow838_]

The amount of research you put into this project is absolutely insane and I love it. Also, your attention to detail is everything 😍 (Like, the "beware of pickpockets" signs? The meat trolley? The moveable bridge??)

[@ralphthestick]

Thank you, Sparrow! If there's nothing else I've learnt about Victorian zoos, they loved a bench, and they loved a sign - the buildings were absolutely covered with them! The moveable bridge continues to be a baffling choice though.

[@wolfystein1]

Just wonderful. I can.t wait to see more of your work. I love how you include pictures and backstages in these last two videos.

[@ralphthestick]

Thank you! I can't promise there will be backstages for everything, but if I've got decent references and/or they can be seen from a guest area, I'll certainly give them a go!

[@Nicholasmcgadden156]

This is quite a cool project. Don't know if people realize just how tricky making a building like that is. I would love to see more of this zoo!

[@ralphthestick]

Thank you! It definitely feels like I’m fighting the game a lot of the time to get it to look right. I’ll keep tinkering away when I can - hopefully I’ll have some more to show before too long!

[@thomlar77]

WOW!!!! This is one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen in Planet Zoo! I LOVE that you have recreated something that are SO old! I would LOVE to build my own Zoo from the early early 1900 :-) Beautiful! JUST SO freaking beautiful!

[@ralphthestick]

Thanks so much! Give it a go - if nothing else it’s a very interesting research project!

[@talkir]

I was so sure you were about to say that Stamford Raffles' life ended when he was eaten by a lion

[@ralphthestick]

Oh yeah, that would have been better. Should have said that...

[@NoaBo1_20]

I love these videoes, so calming and great job, this looks amazing. This is really a series i NEED more of!!!

[@ralphthestick]

I’ll see what I can do!

[@JackOfDiceAndThem]

Phenomenal as always Ralph, beautifully crafted

[@ralphthestick]

❤️

[@ZSHplays]

Nicely done!

[@ralphthestick]

Thank you kindly!

[@gingerjoe4759]

Great work, especially the backstage. I read a lot of zoo chronicles of german zoos. They often include layouts of old animal houses and i always puzzle how the keeper corridors between inside and outside enclosures worked. While i don't think that Londons system was used often, its very interesting to see how they did it

[@ralphthestick]

Thank you! Yes, I definitely get the sense from how the lion house is written about that the bridge system was novel and interesting, otherwise why go into so much detail about it? I assume with less dangerous animals, they could have just been shepherded from indoors to outdoors across the service corridor (perhaps using screens or the doors themselves to channel them) - basically the same idea as the moveable bridge, but without an actual structure.

[@elephantmancorey4360]

Great work

[@ralphthestick]

Thank you!

[@jacobwalls1686]

Awesome build I can’t wait for the whole zoo to be on the workshop. My only recommendation is to use the new gift shop lion statue to make the really small bust. For my historic reptile house I used a lot of the statues especially the concrete caiman one.

[@ralphthestick]

That's such a good call - I did the little renovation to add that bust just before the gift shop update, and forgot we got all those new tiny pieces. I'll have a look!

[@jacobwalls1686]

@@ralphthestickfigured as much glad I could help keep up the great work man I actually just ordered london zoo in old photos from Amazon becuase of you I love zoo history I wish my local zoo had a book about its history its technically the third oldest in America

[@ralphthestick]

@@jacobwalls1686 I hope you enjoy it! Would that be Roger Williams Park Zoo? I don't know much about American zoos, having only been to 2, but there are a couple that are only a few of decades younger than London and must have their own interesting layers of history. Seems like the mid-late 1800s was a good time the set a zoo up!

[@andrewchandler625]

Great video mate! Really enjoying this series

[@ralphthestick]

Thank you for your feedback on it!

[@dodoxasaurus6904]

This is stunning work, Mīharo mahi (Excellent work)

[@ralphthestick]

Ka nui te mihi!

[@sixbirdsinatrenchcoat]

Great build! I’ve been wanting to do something like this with Copenhagen Zoo for a while. Maybe I should pop open that save file and see what I’ve got … 🤔

[@ralphthestick]

Maybe you should, sixbirds, maybe you should… I don’t know anything about Copenhagen Zoo (though googling it, that tower is pretty cool) - is there a particular time period you’d want to recreate, or more of a ‘greatest hits’ historical mishmash of all the most interesting buildings?

[@sixbirdsinatrenchcoat]

@@ralphthestick I was actually thinking of starting at the beginning. First build would be the official opening in 1859. Then expand and rebuild from there - see how far I get. it's an insanely ambitious project that I don't mind failing at 😆

[@ralphthestick]

@@sixbirdsinatrenchcoat Definitely ambitious, but very cool. If I'm not completely burnt out after building 1904, I've got vague plans of updating it to something like the 1930s.

[@Dom_Loves_Dinos]

I absolutely love this series! Do you have any plans currently of doing an update build to the zoo? Like go through and build everything as to how it is today and compare the two?

[@ralphthestick]

If I've still got the drive once I finish 1904, I was thinking I'd update it, but not straight to a modern build - my thought at the moment is some point in the inter-war period as the next era with an interesting crossover of iconic buildings. At the very least, I want to try building the Mappin Terraces as they originally appeared!