Regency Hot Spots: Polito’s Living Museum

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POLITO'S LIVING MUSEUM Over Exeter Change in the Strand In the rooms over Exeter Change in the Strand is a collection of divers living beasts and birds which are not even exceeded in rarity by those of the royal me nagerie in the Tower This collection is the property of Mr Polito and among many others of minor in terest contains in the apartments on the first floor 1 Three African lions and two lionesses 2 A lion from South America
3 The male Nylghau or White footed Antelope with short horns projecting a little forward and some times called the horned horse 4 Male and female leopard from the East Indies 5 A spotted male hyæna 6 A black wolf from Canada and the only one of that colour ever brought to England There is in the same room a grey one from the Alps 7 A royal tiger from Bengal 8 The large baboon or papio This animal is when standing erect about five feet high The two apartments on the second floor contain 10 Two ostriches one of which has lately laid two eggs 11 Two emus a small black bird from New South Wales 12 A male and female beaver 13 Five kanguroos 14 The tapiir an amphibious animal from the province of Buenos Ayres South America 15 The condor an immense South American bird 16 The skeleton of an elephant and also that of a whale The price of seeing the two latter apartments is two shillings or the three may be seen for half a crown Besides the above Mr Polito has also a great num ber of smaller animals and a variety of curious birds from the different countries of the world The Picture of London, for 1813

Stephen Polito’s menagerie was largely traveling, with the first of his menagerie exhibitions being displayed at the Bartholomew Fair in 1799 with partner Miles.

Between 1810 and 1814, the animals would be housed above the Exeter ‘Change but tour with the animals throughout the summer.  This replaced Mr. Pidock’s menagerie that had been at the same location since 1773 and is different from the Royal Menagerie on display at the Tower of London. (Read about that here and here).  Entrance was 1 shilling, and very popular with a variety of aristocrats, gentry, and middle class people.

Polito passed away in 1814.  His family would use the name to continue the traveling menagerie in the 1820s and 1830s, and many treasures still exist and fetch a high price at auction today.

Read more about the Exeter Exchange and its attractions: Regency Hot Spots: Exeter ‘Change – Regency Reader (regrom.com)

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2 Responses to Regency Hot Spots: Polito’s Living Museum

  1. M. L. Kappa says:
    July 18, 2023 at 12:49 pm

    Today this sounds ghastly! Poor animals. And can you imagine the smell…

    • Anne says:
      July 18, 2023 at 3:16 pm

      Agreed. I imagine the smell would have been something else, although most commentary seems to be about the noise. Having that many noisy, unhappy animals in tiny cages was likely deafening. Primary sources cite that you could hear the roars and other noises from the street.