Belle Isle Aquarium (early 20th-century aquarium building)

The Belle Isle Aquarium opened in 1904 on Belle Isle and is one of the oldest public aquarium buildings in the United States, designed by architect George D. Mason. The facility housed freshwater and cold-water exhibits tied to the region's natural history for decades; it was closed in 2005 due to budget cuts and later reopened through city and community efforts. The aquarium remains an architecturally distinctive element of Belle Isle Park's historic landscape.