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New Jersey & Pennsylvania |
Contact Us! Lucy The Margate Elephant |
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New Jersey & Pennsylvania |
Contact Us! Lucy The Margate Elephant |
Built in 1881 at a cost of $38,000 Designed by William Free, a Philadelphia architect |
James Vincent de Paul Lafferty, Jr. (1856-98), engineer, inventor, and real estate speculator, owned a tract of beachfront on the southeast portion of Absecon Island south of Atlantic City, but he needed an attraction, something novel, to draw prospective buyers. He decided to erect a building in the shape of an elephant. Designed by William Free, a Philadelphia architect, and built in 1881 at a cost of $38,000, Lucy, as the building was subsequently named, attracted visitors who came to marvel at her sheer scale. Visitors would be invited to take a tour, to see the panoramic views from the observation deck or howdah on Lucy's back, and to see the tracts of land Lafferty had available for sale. What Made Lucy Rot? |
| Investigating Lucy's problems was a fascinating exercise in which a
multidisciplinary team was able to apply a variety of complementary skills.
Despite extensive structural stabilization and exterior restoration carried out in the 1970s, work on this National Historic Landmark is not yet complete. With three grants from the New Jersey Trust's Historic Preservation Bond Program, Lucy's Victorian interior has finally been restored. Before the interior restoration could begin, however, a serious moisture problem had to be addressed as part of a conditions analysis for the Preservation Plan, it was determined condensation was rotting the skin's wooden sheathing and the structural ribs that support it. Completed work includes: introduction of new ventilating and humidity controls; and, replacement/consolidation of damaged wooden elements. The last phase, currently underway, is the interior restoration based on patent drawings, photographic documentation, and surviving physical evidence of the original 1881 appearance. James Vincent de Paul Lafferty, Jr. financed Lucy and two other elephant structures. One of these, known as the Light of Asia, was constructed in South Cape May, New Jersey, in 1884 but was never maintained; it was torn down c. 1900. The other was built at Coney Island, New York, also in 1884. This 122-foot-tall structure, appropriately named Elephantine Colossus, had 31 rooms; it was destroyed by fire in 1896. Lucy is the only survivor. Visit the new official Lucy the Elephant website! |
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