Lucy the Elephant
National Historic Landmark · Margate City, New Jersey
A six-storey wooden elephant standing on the beachfront at Margate, two miles south of Atlantic City, built in 1881 by a property developer named James Lafferty to persuade people to come and look at land he wanted to sell. SHE IS SIXTY-FIVE FEET HIGH, WEIGHS ABOUT NINETY TONS, AND IS THE OLDEST SURVIVING EXAMPLE OF ZOOMORPHIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE UNITED STATES — a building shaped like an animal, patented as such, and the only one of Lafferty's three elephants still standing. You go up her hind leg, through the rooms in her body, and out onto the howdah on her back. She is a National Historic Landmark, and she was nearly demolished in 1969.
9200 Atlantic Avenue, Margate City, New Jersey, 08402, United States
GUIDED TOURS ONLY, running every 20 to 30 minutes and taking about 20 minutes; there is no self-guided option. Small admission with reductions for children and under-threes generally free. HOURS ARE SEASONAL AND LIMITED — daily in summer, weekends only in the shoulder seasons, and LARGELY CLOSED IN WINTER. SHE HAS ALSO CLOSED ENTIRELY FOR MAJOR RESTORATION MORE THAN ONCE, including a complete re-skinning, so CHECK BEFORE TRAVELLING. Access to the interior is by a narrow spiral stair inside her hind leg with no lift and no alternative. Looking at her from outside is free at any hour and she is floodlit after dark in season. Free but very tight street parking; Margate beach tags are required in season.
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