Lucy

Lucy the Elephant is a six-story elephant-shaped Building. The novelty architecture was constructed of wood and tin sheeting in 1881 by James V.... more

by Tom Gari Gallery-Three-Photography

Title

Lucy

Artist

Tom Gari Gallery-Three-Photography

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Lucy the Elephant is a six-story elephant-shaped Building. The novelty architecture was constructed of wood and tin sheeting in 1881 by James V. Lafferty in Margate City, Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, two miles (3.2 km) south of Atlantic City, in an effort to sell real estate and attract tourists.
Today, Lucy is a tourist attraction. Guided tours take visitors into the building through the spiral staircase in the left rear leg up into the interior, then up again into the howdah to see views of Margate, the Atlantic City skyline, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Over the years, Lucy had served as a restaurant, business office, cottage, and tavern (the last closed by Prohibition). The building was depicted on many souvenir postcards, often as "The Elephant Hotel of Atlantic City." (The hotel was in a nearby building, not in the elephant itself.)
By the 1960s, Lucy had fallen into disrepair and was scheduled for demolition. In 1969, Edwin T. Carpenter and a group of Margate citizens formed the Margate Civic Association, which later became the Save Lucy Committee under Josephine Harron and Sylvia Carpenter. They were given a 30-day deadline to move the edifice or pay for its demolition. Various fund-raising events, the most successful a door-to-door canvass by volunteers, raised money. In 1970, the building was moved about 100 yards to the west-southwest and a bit inward from the shoreline. The building was also completely refurbished. The building's original wooden frame was buttressed by a steel one, and the deteriorated howdah was replaced with a replica. A plug of green glass set into the howdah platform refracts light into Lucy's interior.[
In 1976, Lucy was designated a National Historic Landmark.

A postcard with a picture of Lucy on it can be briefly seen in the opening credits of the 1983 film National Lampoon's Vacation.

The History Channel television show Weird U.S. featured Lucy.

A Lucy-inspired structure is featured as the boudoir of Nicole Kidman's character in the movie Moulin Rouge 2001.

In 2006, Lucy was struck by lightning, blackening the tips of the tusks. That November, the building was prominently featured in an advertisement for Proformance Insurance.

Lucy was featured in the 2009 television show Life After People, which illustrated how the environment would take over the structure without people to maintain Lucy.

In a 2011 episode of Boardwalk Empire, which takes place mostly in Atlantic City, Agent Van Alden mentions "a hotel shaped like an elephant" among the local attractions.

In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall near Margate. Lucy remained unscathed, although part of the surge reached the building's toes and a booth in the parking lot was blown over.[6]
Lucy was featured in the 2012 book Stay Close by Harlan Coben (ISBN 1101561173).

June 14, 2014 episode of Travel Channel's Monumental Mysteries featured Lucy the Elephant.

April 18, 2015: Lucy is featured in the Bill Griffith daily comic strip "Zippy the Pinhead".

Lucy is featured in the opening credits of the 2015 film Vacation.

Uploaded

February 15th, 2016