Legislature passed a bill allowing the city government to create an aquarium within Castle Garden. Julius F. Munckwitz Jr. drew up preliminary plans for an aquarium, which he presented to New York City's board of park commissioners in mid-1892. The state government voted to allocate $150,000 for the construction of an aquarium within Castle Garden. The aquarium's architect of record, H. T. Woodman, reported in April 1894 that several of the tanks were ready for use. During the renovation process, the architect alleged that the tiles in the tanks had not been installed properly, which led to a protracted dispute. The city government allocated another $25,000 for the aquarium's completion at the end of 1894. The aquarium was supposed to have been completed by mid-1894, but it did not open for another two years. By mid-1895, the aquarium was delayed by what the New-York Tribune characterized as "gross stupidity". For instance, the skylights on the roof acted as a greenhouse that raised the temperature of the water in the tanks, and the saltwater fish in the aquarium were dying off because of the low salinity of the Hudson River. The Tribune estimated that these mistakes had increased the project's cost by $35,000. Local media reported in September 1896 that the aquarium was largely completed. At the time, the tanks contained 45 species, some of which had been in the aquarium for two years. Ultimately, it cost $175,000 to renovate Castle Garden into an aquarium. The aquarium opened on December 10, 1896, following a soft opening the previous day. The aquarium attracted thousands of visitors on its opening day, and it averaged over 10,000 visitors per day during its first several months. Visitors were not charged admission, which may have contributed to the aquarium's popularity. The aquarium had two million guests within a year, and it had 5.5 million total guests by May 1900. 1900s to 1930s In March 1902, New York state legislators proposed transferring operation of the New York Aquarium to the New York Zoological Society. City officials had suggested the idea because they wanted to remove political interference in the aquarium's operation. The Board of Estimate authorized mayor Seth Low to lease the aquarium to the Zoological Society in July 1902, and the Zoological Society took over on October 31, 1902, with Charles Haskins Townsend as the aquarium's director. Townsend soon made several modifications to Castle Garden's facilities.