Dudley Zoological Gardens, designed by Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton, has been placed on the World Monuments Fund’s 2010 watchlist alongside Machu Picchu in Peru and Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia.

Lubetkin, the architect behind the Penguin Pool at London Zoo, designed the Zoo’s buildings to complement the surrounding landscape in the grounds of Dudley castle, built between the 11th and 15th centuries.

The complex of reinforced concrete structures includes six animal enclosures, an entrance pavilion and a restaurant, all built between 1935 and 1937.

A number of the buildings have been left derelict, including bear and polar bears enclosures, as ideas on animal care have progressed and the zoo has struggled to find a new use for them.

The zoo has been working with the 20th Century Society to gain international recognition for the Tecton buildings to help increase its funding.

Peter Suddock, CEO of Dudley Zoo, said: “We have been working closely with the 20th Century Society and English Heritage for almost two years and this is the culmination of those efforts to ensure a global focus on the world’s largest collection of Tecton buildings.”

The World Monuments Fund watchlist was established in 1996 to focus attention on heritage sites in danger around the world.

It is published every two years and the 2010 list includes 93 sites at risk including Dudley Zoo and four other UK sites; Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church in Belfast, the Edinburgh historic graveyards, Sheerness dockyards in Kent and the St John the Evangelist Church in Shobdon.

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