17 In the golden elephant 77

The stone cutter probably only knew the elephant by hearsay. But the trunk must have made a big impression, because the animal has been given a mighty trumpet. It is also situated in a desert-like, not at all elephant-friendly landscape with sand hills and bushes that could pass for palm trees.
This stone has been relocated via the museum to the old address Wijcker Brugstraat 61-63, somewhat lost in a renovated lower facade.

What can go wrong with a facade modification is very clear with the elephant of Wijcker Brugstraat 61-63. In the archive photo, the elephant is still one whole unit, and precisely tailored to that splendid doorway. In the current situation, it is nothing more than an appendage above a renewed lower facade that does not match the house.

The Wijcker Brugstraat was once a narrow, somewhat winding street. When around 1880 the Percee (the breakthrough of Rechtstraat and Wijcker Grachtstraat with extension of the Wijcker Brugstraat towards the later railway station) was realized, it was necessary to straighten and widen the street. To do this, houses had to be (partially) demolished and the facades moved backwards (see sketch). That process certainly covered the period 1882-1888, but possibly even 1891, because in the two upper corners of the gablestone is the inscription W.v.d.Z 1891. Refers to Mr W. v.d. Zijl, the then owner and possibly the year of restoration. It was also he who, according to the Maasgouw, had previously donated the elephant, which in 1923 moved from its storage in the Helpoort to the new museum at the Lenculenstraat, to the LGOG (Limburg Historical and Archaeological Society). The removal and donation must have been in 1915 when those shop windows were made. Seeing how on the archive photo (from around 1912) the parts of the facade harmoniously fit together, it justifies the conclusion that here, although moved backwards in 1891, the original doorway is still depicted.
De Stuers still saw it as nr. 362, but in 1888 it became first nr. 11 and after the modification of the Wijcker Brugstraat and necessary renumbering successively nrs. 27, 45 and 61 and then finally 61-63. All one and the same house!
Why and when the elephant, but without the beautiful side pieces, was returned from the museum depot to its old place (look at the layout of the windows above and the pilasters next to them) in the maltreated facade is unknown, but it must have been before or around 1950.

The updated land registry map clearly shows how Wijcker Brugstraat was widened when the Percée was built by moving the fronts of several houses backwards.