The area just below the Rotunda Museum is known as Aquarium Top because it once housed one of the biggest aquariums in the country. And what’s now a roundabout above, and underground car park below, was once a remarkable 'people’s palace’, known first as the Aquarium and then Gala Land, complete with alligators, seals and spectacular Indian-style brick- and tile-work.
5. Underground 'palace'
An advertisement for the Aquarium read: "People’s Palace Aquarium, the most magnificent underground palace in the world, Acrobats, Gymnasts, Bicyclists, Vocalists, Instrumentalists, Fountains, Fish Tanks, Seal Pond, 11 hours continuous programme, All for 6d". Photo: Max Payne Collection.
6. Underground 'palace'
The building was taken over in 1925 by Scarborough Corporation who continued to run it as an amusement park and entertainment complex, renaming it Gala Land. Photo: Max Payne Collection.
7. Underground 'palace'
Bulmer’s History and Directory of North Yorkshire for 1890 states of the aquarium: "Its length is 500 feet, and width 250 feet. The building is of Mahomedan-Indian architecture, which gives it the appearance of a vast subterranean palace." Photo: Max Payne Collection.
8. Underground 'palace'
"The rooms devoted to concerts and refreshments are of the style of the Palace at Futupoor, while the general character of the woodwork is similar to the Palace of Akbar, at Agra." Photo: Max Payne Collection.