Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Old buildings, new uses.
An introduction to the edge of downtown Houston, where a fire station and a waterworks building became an aquarium.
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On the edge of downtown
The aquarium stands at 410 Bagby Street, on the edge of downtown Houston, on a site that once served the city’s fire and water services.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how older civic buildings have been given new uses, and how the rides and the aquarium sit together.
Tanks, glass and water
An aquarium is built around its water: tanks of every size, from the cylindrical tank in the restaurant to the 200,000-gallon shark habitat.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was made and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who looks after the water or the animals, or the conditions in which they work.
A twenty-first-century chapter
The Downtown Aquarium shows Houston reusing civic buildings at the start of the twenty-first century, with an aquarium and a small amusement park in place of a fire station and waterworks.
Look at the meeting of the two: historic buildings and the habitats built inside them.
Make room for context
Pair this city reading with the aquarium’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places, commissions their restoration or represents their makers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
