Detroit Zoological Park

In the context of zoo design in the United States, the Detroit Zoological Park was one of the first to utilize a master plan prepared by a landscape architect. It's designer was Arthur A. Shurtleff, a nationally known landscape architect of the early twentieth century. The Detroit Zoological Park is the only zoo in America containing exhibits designed and their construction supervised by the Hagenbeck family, world famous zoo designers. In addition, it was the first zoo in America whose exhibits were entirely barless and whose plan allowed panoramic views that include several exhibits in one scene.

The Detroit Zoological Park is situated in Royal Oak and Huntington Woods in Oakland County, Michigan, at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Ten Mile Road, about two miles north of the city limits of Detroit. It is a zoological park and arboretum which displays over 1,200 animals, largely in barless exhibits, in a landscaped setting. The present day zoo stands on 125 acres. It is bordered on the south by Ten Mile Road, on the north by a residential area, on the west by Rackham Golf Course, and on the east by Woodward Avenue. The property is an irregular shape with an elongated east-west axis. The western portion of the site is almost twice as wide as the eastern portion. Approximately two thirds of the site is located in Royal Oak and the other one third in Huntington Woods. The original site was surveyed by 0. C. Simonds, then a garden designer in Detroit. It was a low, swampy piece of land that had three areas of higher land with groves of oak trees. It was crossed in a north-south direction by three drainage ditches. The low area was in the center of the site. At that time of the survey, it was used for farming, as was the property around the site. The central portion of the site was filled and two major lakes, Island Lake and Clover Leaf Lake, were dredged. Later North American Lake (now renamed Pierson Lake) was dredged just south and a little west of Clover Leaf Lake. The design scheme of the zoo divides itself into two basic landscape styles which are determined by the natural characteristics of the site. One is naturalistic with free flowing lines that follow the existing forms of the tree patterns and topography. The other is a formal or symmetrical character which works well on the level ground. The naturalistic style is unified by paths which meander to fit the contour of the ground and help to display the collection of animals on their margins. The exhibits are carefully screened and viewed only from one side. Special measures are taken to provide background for each exhibit. The formal style is best expressed in the symmetry of the central mall and the bird house. A French Renaissance fountain surrounded by a balustrade was added to the central mall. A third style of design, 'rustic,' is apparent in the area around the trout stream which was built during the Depression and in some of the exhibits. Several structures with gunited logs and tree branches were constructed. Log cabins were also built and split rail fencing placed around the farmyard.