Belle Isle Aquarium

This gorgeous aquarium was built in 1904 by well-known architect, Albert Kahn. It was the oldest continuously open aquarium in the United States until 2005 when it was closed. Reopened in 2012, the aquarium has flourished with the help of various organizations that merged to become the Belle Isle Conservancy. Steeped in history, the Belle Isle Aquarium is housed in a beautiful Beaux Arts style building with a grand entrance that incorporates the Detroit emblem and two spitting fish in a stone façade. The viewing gallery offers large tanks teeming with aquatic life, a swordfish mosaic, and an arched ceiling adorned in sea foam glass tiles reminiscent of being underwater. Both saltwater and freshwater species are found here, most notably native fish from the Great Lakes area.