deeper tanks on the second floor, expanding exhibition space by 20 percent. By then, the aquarium had two million annual visitors. The expansion was largely completed by early 1924. Townsend announced in 1926 that Castle Garden would undergo further modifications at a cost of $225,000. The plans included constructing a third story for workrooms and laboratory space, installing tanks behind the fort, adding a new mechanical plant in the basement, and covering the facade with a gray cement finish. Several local residents expressed opposition to these modifications and created the Battery Park Association to advocate against the plans. By the late 1920s, there were plans to reconstruct Battery Park into a formal vista. As part of this plan, an amphitheater would have been constructed in the southern end of Battery Park, complementing Castle Garden at the northern end. The Castle Garden Aquarium remained popular in the 1930s, with two million visitors per year. Two laboratories were built on the structure's third story in 1940, and a new metal dome was installed above the fort the same year. By then, the aquarium's acting director Charles M. Breder Jr. wished to develop a new building nearby, as he believed the aquarium had outgrown Castle Garden. Demolition attempts and preservation Initial plans In February 1941, Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Commissioner Robert Moses announced that he would demolish Castle Garden when the park was rebuilt during the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel's construction. He justified the demolition by saying that the fort had poor lighting and ventilation and that it required extensive repairs. In response, the New-York Historical Society proposed restoring the fort and turning it into a maritime museum. George McAneny, a former mayor and the chairman of the Regional Plan Association's board, proposed restoring Castle Garden; he continued to advocate the fort's preservation for nine years. Moses opposed efforts to preserve Castle Garden, saying that the old fort "never fired a shot". The city government closed the New York Aquarium and moved some fish and turtles to other aquariums in late 1941; other fish were released into the Atlantic Ocean. A new aquarium was ultimately built on Coney Island in 1957. Moses presented plans for a reconstruction of Battery Park to the New York City Board of Estimate in March 1942, in which the fort was to be replaced by a landscaped promenade. The board voted in favor of removing the fort from Battery