Picture the Key West Aquarium at 1 Whitehead Street, marked by Historic Marker 52. This is the only public aquarium in Key West, Florida. It was built between 1932 and 1934 and opened to the public in 1935; at the time it was described as the first open-air aquarium in the United States.
It was conceived by Dr. Robert Van Deusen, the Director of the Fairmount Park Aquarium in Philadelphia, and was originally an open-air facility—one of the first and largest of its kind. During the Great Depression, Key West turned over its charter to the federal government, which dispatched the Works Project Administration to build the tourist attraction you stand before. Original admission cost was 15 cents for adults and 5 cents for children, a small fee that belies the building's long history.
The aquarium has undergone recent restoration and refurbishment, including the addition of air conditioning and a new entryway façade completed in 2023. Picture the façade and the block reaching out to the street and harbor beyond.