Historic Giraffe House

This giraffe house was built in 1925, when the first giraffe arrived from South Africa. It was designed by the zoo’s curator, Louis T. Griffin. The first occupant, a young bull, died shortly after arrival; and the zoo was without giraffes until 1960, when a bull was imported from London Zoo.

A photo of the giraffe house (taken 1956) is on the cover of A Tiger by the Tail - a history of Auckland Zoo and there are several other photos of it within this book.

A small aquarium was built alongside it in 1949, but later demolished.

This giraffe house has since been renovated to display tarantulas. Auckland Zoo currently has nine tarantulas: three Peruvian pinktoe tarantula; three Andean stripe knee tarantula; two Costa Rican zebra tarantula; and one Bolivian blue leg tarantula. One Andean stripe knee tarantula and the Bolivian blue leg tarantula are currently on display.

@Zoofan15 What did they do with this building between 1925 after the giraffe died and 1960?

@DavidBrown I’d imagine storage facilities, though the 1926 map shows flamingos on this site; and a map from the 1950’s shows cassowaries. The 1960’s saw the return of giraffes and the founder of a successful breeding herd of Grant’s zebra arrive.