Belle Isle Aquarium named the "most beautiful" aquarium in America...

[Jimaz]

Belle Isle Aquarium named the "most beautiful" aquarium in America,
according to new ranking

Designed by famed Detroit architect Albert Kahn and inspired by the Beaux-Arts building style, the Belle Isle Aquarium first opened its doors in 1904, making it the oldest aquarium in the United States at 119 years old.

Kahn intended the building to be thought of as a living art exhibit, allowing its visitors to view its many aquatic displays as though they were picture frames within a gallery, so it makes sense that the aquarium has become known for its style and beauty.

The domed ceiling and walls are adorned with stunning green Opalite glass tiles, giving aquarium-goers the feeling that they, too, are underwater....

Audio at the link.

[Vic01]

Thanks, always good to see Detroit come out on top of a "best of" list. Very good reading in the article, it's now on my go to soon list

[canuck]

Beautiful building.

Would make a stunning movie set!

[expatriate]

Well not to denigrate it, because it certainly is pretty as a lovely relic of the 19th century, but as an aquarium I'm not sure it should be labeled the "best" by other than historic preservationists.

[One Shot]

Well not to denigrate it, because it certainly is pretty as a lovely relic of the 19th century, but as an aquarium I'm not sure it should be labeled the "best" by other than historic preservationists.

Agree-I love the architecture and the history of it but lets be honest. There are WAY better aquariums in this country. Hell the one in Gatlinburg Tennessee [[a tourist attraction) was way cooler.

[401don]

Agree-I love the architecture and the history of it but lets be honest. There are WAY better aquariums in this country. Hell the one in Gatlinburg Tennessee [[a tourist attraction) was way cooler.

Yeah, it's all in the way they tabulated the results. Mostly hard core aquarium visitors are going to this aquarium compared to the much larger tourist ones. They are going to comment on the architecture because that's far more impressive than the species of fish.

[jiminnm]

From Shorpy, the Belle Isle Aquarium in 1908.

[canuck]

Great photograph!


I wonder, are those urns at the end of alley spitoons?

[Gistok]

Opening the skylight at the rotunda really helped brighten it up. I agree that the underwater feeling is there.

[Jimaz]

Great photograph!

I wonder, are those urns at the end of alley spitoons?

I can't imagine anything else they could be.

For more detail, click here and scroll.

[masterblaster]

Great photograph!


I wonder, are those urns at the end of alley spitoons?

Wasn't an alligator pit located in that middle section of the aquarium?

https://detourdetroiter.com/belle-is...-guide-a-to-z/

Perhaps the most legendary Belle Isle mischief happened in 1972, when pranksters stole an alligator from the aquarium in hopes of releasing it in a pool in front of Cobo [[now TCF Center), where the Rolling Stones were set to perform. Thwarted, they let their captive go in the James Scott Fountain, according to Jeff Morrison in his book “Guardians of Detroit.

[canuck]

Wasn't an alligator pit located in that middle section of the aquarium?

https://detourdetroiter.com/belle-is...-guide-a-to-z/

Lol. Good one. They were too early for tiktok, butbhad their moment of fame, nonetheless!

[MikeM]

Wasn't an alligator pit located in that middle section of the aquarium?

https://detourdetroiter.com/belle-is...-guide-a-to-z/

Initial story from the Detroit Free Press, July 16, 1972:

Belle Isle Gator Has a Night Out

Investigate "a possible alligator” in the fountain, the
Detroit police radio told a Belle Isle scout car crew early
Saturday.

A possible alligator, indeed.

Patrolmen George Vail and Ronald Goodrich went to
Scott Fountain on the south end of the isle and, sure as
shooting, there he was amid the bronze turtles and marble
lions: A possible alligator.

IN FACT, a very real alligator, the two officers decided.
So they waited for daylight and reinforcements before net-
ting the beast and dragging him from the pool to the harbor-
master’s office.

“They called me from the police station,” Belle Isle
Aquarium attendant Leroy May said later, “and asked did I
lose an alligator. And I said I had. And they said could I
identify him. And I said is he about four feet long, and they
said it was, and I said that's him.”

And so the alligator, nicknamed Nomad after his travels,
was dumped back into the tank for public viewing Satur-
day, just as if nothing had been amiss.

There had been relatively little danger to humans while
the alligator was on the loose, May said. "He shouldn't have
been mean when he left here because he'd just had six or
eight fish. But that was last Monday.”

The way May figured it, the escape occurred between
noon and 2:30 pom. Monday, during viewing hours, when
the alligator crawled up the stone waterfall in his tank, over
the back of the tank, tumbled down a five-foot drop to the
floor, ambled down a corridor behind the other tanks, out
onto the roof, over a ten-foot drop and 50 yards to the
canoe lagoon.

The distance from the aquarium to the marble fountain
is nearly a mile, and the approach to the pool is up a flight
of stairs. May figures at sometimes his alligator got some
human help — probably in his last plunge into the fountain
and possibly from the same people who alerted police.

As May talked Nomad was spending a lot of time looking
upward and toward the back of the tank — wistfully — to
where a heavy screen now stands to block escape. And he
sure looked like he knew the way out of there.

[MikeM]

And the follow up story from July 28th:

REMEMBER the Missing Alligator Caper? It concerned a four-foot alligator that was heisted from the Belle Isle Aquarium and turned up four days later in the waters of the Scott Fountain after a tipster notified police and radio station CKLW where to look.

It can now be told that the elusive reptile spent two nights in the family room of one of his abductors, tranquilized and under a blanket in a corner, so docile that the young man's parents had no idea it was there. Two other nights were passed in the heister's bedroom.

Only thing the parents noticed out of kilter was that the boys, who usually pay no attention to television news, were glued to the set during news time, rolled on the floor with laughter whenever a reference was made to the snatch and speculation on where the alligator might be.

The plan had been to slip the alligator into the pool below the broken backed Indian outside Cobo Hall on the Friday night that the Rolling Stones appeared there.

But due to the crowds and the massive police turnout there was no possible way to smuggle the reptile into the pool without being spotted. That was when they decided the caper had gone far enough and arranged for their trophy's return.

[Jimaz]

Thanks for posting that, MikeM. That story needs to live on in history.

[stasu1213]

Atlanta has fish that swim over your head in its glass ceiling aquarium. Detroit can't match it

[Zacha341]

The ATL one is nicer and bigger in it's own way [been there a few times]. Ours has more of a historical feel. I like both!

[CassTechGrad]

https://www.facebook.com/profile/100...ch/?q=aquarium

[stasu1213]

Yeah, it's all in the way they tabulated the results. Mostly hard core aquarium visitors are going to this aquarium compared to the much larger tourist ones. They are going to comment on the architecture because that's far more impressive than the species of fish.

Ah yeah right

[Gistok]

Actually comparing old and new aquariums is kind of pointless. New aquariums have enormous tanks, some multistory tall. The National Gallery in Baltimore is an example of a new aquarium that is amazing.

Old aquariums are more architecture, new aquariums are more huge fish tanks.