| Description | View of the Royal Aquarium, as seen from the south side of Broad Sanctuary. The caption reads: 'This popular place of amusements belies its name, for it has but a beggarly show of fish. It occupies a commanding site, facing Broad Sanctuary, and is a not unhandsome red-brick building, 600 feet long, with a glass roof. The founders of the Aquarium, which cost nearly £200,000 and was opened in 1876, entertained ambitious hopes as to its future; but the place is now a combination of winter gardens, music hall and variety performances, side shows, restaurants, and what not; and it is claimed for it that at no other place in the world can so many sights be seen. At the far end is the Aquarium Theatre, which, however, is only used occasionally. The vast building in the distance is Queen Anne's Mansions. Extract from 'The Queen's London: a Pictorial and Descriptive Record [...]' (1896). p. 150. |