Georgy Alexandrovich Alexandrov, one of the owners of the already famous "Arcadia" garden, in 1886 rented a plot on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt (on the site of the modern houses 10–12), planted a garden there, and began building a large aquarium (hence the name), initially intending to organize lectures on the life of fish and aquatic plants with demonstrations. It was planned to acquire marine and freshwater animals and fish, as well as plants, with the assistance of the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists. That is why the establishment was named "Aquarium," but the grand plan did not come to fruition.

In the end, the "Aquarium" became famous as an entertainment center, and Alexandrov strove to amaze his guests. His "Aquarium" was always "...a place where an eternal celebration reigns, laughter and songs, where so many names, beauties, toilettes, diamonds flashed before the audience," wrote the magazine "Artist and Stage."

Already in the first years, a symphony orchestra (more than 50 musicians) played every evening on the garden stage shaped like a shell, conducted by Engel, and twice a week the Arkhangelsky choir performed.

On June 26, 1886, the Arkhangelsky chapel, a remarkable composer and conductor, creator of the famous mixed choir, performed in the garden for the first time. On July 4, 1886, the newspaper "Svet" reported that "the new entertainment establishment 'Aquarium' with a wonderful orchestra under the direction of Mr. Engel and the Russian choir of Mr. Arkhangelsky is beginning to become fashionable and gather quite a large audience."

This was greatly facilitated by the imagination of the garden's owner. For example, the "Aquarium" became the place from which a balloon of the Technical Society ascended in early June. Filling the balloon with gas took 15 hours—five times longer than expected. A certain Ewald and two other aeronauts, who took pigeons with them, ascended spectacularly from the garden territory at 5 a.m. on the balloon, which smoothly drifted toward Ozerki.

On July 12, mandolinists, the Preys brothers, and Henrietta Preys, a wire acrobat, debuted on the garden stage. In August, a charity event was held in the garden in support of the "Society for the Care of Poor and Sick Children."

On September 2, 1886, more than a thousand visitors gathered in the garden, "listening with great enthusiasm to a very good orchestra, performing a diverse and tastefully composed program by conductor Mr. Engel, the playing of young violin virtuosos—the Milanollo sisters—and a gypsy choir. The concert part ended with a successful fireworks display."

In 1888, a large glass hall was built on the garden grounds, where, besides seats for music lovers, restaurant tables were placed on the sides and at the back. The first foreign touring artists appeared. A sensation that attracted visitors to the garden in winter was the "Ice House," erected in 1888. It featured an office, a living room, and a dining room with a complete ice "setting."

Here, during the intermission of Victor Roger's operetta "Alfred Pasha in Paris," on May 4, 1896, the first film screening in Russia took place.

In the 1900s, musical evenings gave way to opera and operetta. Small dramatic performances were staged on the open-air stage.

Various attractions were placed in the free territory of the garden. In 1905–1906, income houses were built on the plot's border (architect Kryzhanovsky), next to the "Aquarium" garden deep in the plot was the "St. Petersburg Central Market" (architect Mulkhanov), whose commercial premises were rented out. In 1908, a new winter variety theater with 300 tables (the largest in St. Petersburg) was built here, where Varvara Panina, Anastasia Vyaltseva, the Davydovs—Alexander Mikhailovich and Vladimir Nikolaevich, Konstantin Varlamov, and the gypsy choirs of Nikolai Ivanovich Shishkin and Alexey Nikitich Masalsky performed. In 1907, an "autumn beauty exhibition" with prize awards took place, one of the first beauty contests in Russia. In 1912, the first artificial skating rink in Russia was opened, modeled after London's "Ice Palace," built at the Elsas factories. Balls, masquerades, "living picture" processions, fireworks, and festivities were regularly held here.

During World War I, a hospital was set up on the garden grounds.

In 1916, the garden was leased to singer Alexander Davydov for opening an Italian opera on the site of the skating rink. The events of 1917 halted the cultural and entertainment life of the "Aquarium." However, in 1920, Yuryev evenings with the participation of Time took place here in the Rose Hall. During the NEP period, the theater was again owned by Alexandrov's heirs.

In 1923, construction of the "Sevzapkino" film factory began on the site of the "Aquarium." Until 1925, a cinema operated at 10 Krasnykh Zory Street, and soon the Sovkino factory (from 1934—"Lenfilm") settled here; the theater, market, restaurant, and artificial skating rink premises were rebuilt into filming pavilions.

The life of the "Aquarium" is full of vivid artistic events. Here, on May 4, 1896, during the intermission of Victor Roger's operetta "Alfred Pasha in Paris," cinema was shown for the first time in Russia; here in the garden, the first experimental screening of sound cinema took place—a fragment of A. Rubinstein's opera "Demon" (1929). All the celebrities of that time, visiting Petersburg, considered it an honor to perform or visit merchant Alexandrov's establishment. Shalyapin and Utesov performed in the theater, and bankers, politicians, dignitaries, and "the very" Grigory Rasputin often frequented the restaurant. Also Tchaikovsky, Blok, and Gorky.

Sources:

https://lenarudenko.livejournal.com/288810.html

https://www.lenfilm.ru/news/2015/04/Istoriya_Akvariuma_v_Velikan_Parke

https://www.lenfilm.ru/studio/history/acvarium/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Аквариум_(театр,_Санкт-Петербург)