Imagine being able to stay in a jumbo elephant when you went to Coney Island on vacation. If you were on holiday in New York in the late 1800s, you could do just that. The Trojan-Horselike hotel was supposed to have been built in West Brighton Beach, Coney Island in 1892, according to this site (and many others).
However, according to the advertisement below, from the New York Clipper in 1885, there was an earlier Elephant.
The first Jumbo was a shopping mall of sorts - what the Victorians liked to call a Bazaar. The first such bazaar was created by Anthony Trollope's intrepid mother, writer/traveler Frances Trollope, in the early1830s in Cincinnati, Ohio - though not inside an elephant.
You can see from the interior view of the first elephant (above, in a view from an 1885 Scientific American) that it has 6 stories and could have easily become a hotel.other delights, according to I have been unable to find out much about this first Elephant. Most history sources concentrate on the 1892 Elephant Hotel, which was constructed out of wood and tin, with six stories and an observatory on top.
The Elephant was not supposed to fit into the streetscape, as you can see in the postcard (probably dating from about 1900) on the left. The building to the right of Jumbo is the Surf Hotel, a more sedate (and probably quieter) place to stay.
Advertisement, dated 1885, from the New York Clipper. Picture postcard of the Elephant from Exciting NY. Picture of elephant's interior from NYPL Digital Gallery, from an 1885 Scientific American.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
A Coney Island Elephant
Posted by Lidian at 7:05 AM
Labels: 1880s ads, 1880s magazines, Brooklyn History, Coney Island, hotels, Victorian Entertainments, Victorian Oddities, Victorian Popular Culture
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8 Comments:
That is so cool, I just love the quirky things you find to showcase. :) Thank you so much for including an actual picture of the completed elephant and its surroundings. I can only imagine what a wonder it must have been to turn-of-the-century Coney Island visitors.
Kind of a precursor to today's theme hotels, like at Disney World. But SO much cooler. :D
very interesting blog. I read the first article and got sucked into the rest of them. I love seeing the old pics and advertisements.
There's a joke there somewhere about being 'in the belly of the beast' ;-) I love your blog and read it every week.
I'm pretty sure that is part of a number of such animals/hotels along the shore. Lucy is in Margate NJ, outside of Atlantic City, and served the same purpose. It is now a national historic landmark.
I know that some of my relatives on both sides of the family visited New York and can imagine them seeing such a site although from what I know of them, especially on my father's side, they never would have stayed in it. Perhaps my great grandfather Spencer Kellogg Jr might have, he was a bit quirky.
I loved this piece and look forward to more such treasures!
There was also a very similar "competing elephant" by the name of "Lucy" in Margate, New Jersey who's still "alive and well." James V. Lafferty, Jr. had Lucy built, not as a hotel, but as an advertising promotion for the beachfront property that he was attempting to sell. The crowds indeed came to see Lucy...unfortunately, they didn't stay to buy any beachfront property. But the full story could be found here: http://www.lucytheelephant.org
My grandmother used to tell me of the Coney Island Elephant and, even though I knew about Lucy, thought it was another one of her "fairy tales."
Excellent post on a most singular dwelling that few have ever heard about. We usually underestimate but are often captivated by the incredible imagination of our ancestors.
That's great!
Imagine the kid's delight of bragging that they slept insode the elephant!
this is really interesting. I had heard of the first elephant but not this second one. great find!
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