Dudley Zoo

Dudley Zoo stands inside the grounds of Dudley Castle in the West Midlands. The zoo covers forty acres of a larger, densely wooded estate. It opened in May 1937 after two years of building work on steep, limestone terrain. The architects Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group designed twelve modernist animal buildings and visitor facilities. Their reinforced-concrete structures curve and project in deliberate contrast to the castle ruins. The zoo’s first year drew seven hundred thousand visitors, many arriving on the miniature railway opened in 1938. The zoo’s history includes notable figures such as the 3rd Earl of Dudley, who initiated the project, and Captain Frank Cooper, who supplied animals from his closed Oxford Zoo. Dr Geoffrey Vevers of London Zoo advised on animal care. King Edward VIII visited regularly during his reign. A gorilla named Bonzo became a local celebrity from 1962 until his death in 1994, and a bust of him was added in 2016. The zoo once housed polar bears and an orca named Cuddles, who died in 1974. Visitors find modernist enclosures alongside wooded paths and castle views. The Elephant House, Entrance Gateway and Castle Restaurant remain from Lubetkin’s designs. Lemurs walk freely in their refurbished exhibit, and Sumatran tigers occupy an extended area. A chair lift, reopened after refurbishment, climbs the steep bank. Mining tunnels beneath the hill are being restored to reveal the area’s industrial past.