Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A fire station, a waterworks building and half a million gallons of water offer several ways into the story of the Downtown Aquarium.
On this page
Buildings with a past
The aquarium was developed from Houston’s Fire Station No. 1 and the Central Waterworks Building, on a six-acre site on the edge of downtown.
It opened in 2003, run by Landry’s, and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Life in the water
More than 200 species live in tanks that together hold about 500,000 gallons. The largest, the 200,000-gallon shark habitat, can be seen from the Shark Voyage train.
The exhibit moves through habitats from a Louisiana swamp and a rainforest to the Gulf of Mexico.
An aquarium and a park
Rides, Stingray Reef and a restaurant built around a 110,000-gallon cylindrical tank sit beside the exhibit.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
