Lucy the Elephant, built in 1881 in Margate City on the south Jersey shore, is a 6-storey high pachyderm-shaped building. The brainchild of real estate speculator James Lafferty Jr., when the area was still primarily tidal inlets and scrub grass, her “howdah” served as a viewing platform for prospective purchasers to survey the surrounding lots. Over the years, she gained popularity as a tourist attraction, and while her ownership changed several times, she was one of very few of her kind of vernacular architecture to survive. Constructed with wooden framing and sheathing and a sheet metal “skin,” she suffered from her proximity to the ocean, experiencing corrosion of her skin and rot of her structure from leaks.

Kreilick Conservation, LLC was retained in 2019 to contribute to a multi-phase project to restore Lucy. Kreilick performed an assessment, materials testing, and mockups of sheet metal replacement and high-performance coatings. A 3-D model was created to aid in quantifying replacement sheet metal, given her unusual shape, and improve the accuracy of contractor bids (rendering below). Kreilick provided drawings and specifications; recommendations included replacing her terne-coated steel skin with the far more corrosion resistant Monel (Nickel 400). Kreilick also provided oversight and consulting during the construction phase.