By Christopher Haraden

As contractors began taking down the former Atlantic Aquarium building on Friday, two Hullonians closely associated with the short-lived venture made sure that artifacts from the landmark building were preserved.

Greg Sandonato and Skip Tull, who helped bring the aquarium to life 50 years ago, saved two large photographs that hung on the wall of the former dolphin tank from the wrecking crews.

And both men recognized themselves in the images.

TIME CAPSULE

As demolition crews began taking down the former Atlantic Aquarium building on Friday, former assistant director Greg Sandonato, assisted by fellow aquarium associate Skip Tull, rescued a large photo of Lucky the dolphin that survived on the back wall of the building for 50 years. Sandonato is pointing to a younger version of himself in the 1973 image, which is set to be restored. [Skip Tull photos]

Sandonato, who served as the assistant director alongside owner Kenneth Tong, is visible in the large photo showing employees and others lowering Lucky, one of the three performing dolphins at the aquarium, into the main tank. Lucky, Lady, and Sprite were flown from Florida just prior to the facility’s grand opening in May 1973. When they arrived in Boston, a State Police escort brought their specially outfitted truck from Logan Airport to their new home in Hull.

The photograph, mounted on wood, hung on the back wall of the aquarium and remained there, untouched for decades, even as the building was transformed from the aquarium into a restaurant, hotel, and charter school. Those other uses did not extend into all of the dolphin pool area, leaving that section of the two-story building a time capsule until the remaining stadium seating and marine-related equipment was cleared out to prepare the property for sale.

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Tull, whose photographs are featured each week in The Hull Times, said he was involved in the early days of the aquarium and is very likely in the photo. However, the person bearing closest resemblance to him is not looking directly at the camera, so a positive identification is difficult.

Brookline developer Jonathan Leavitt, a principal of 120 Nantasket Avenue LLC, is constructing a four-story, 21-unit residential building on the existing aquarium foundation.

The aquarium was open from 1973 through 1975. After an eight-year dormant period through the early 1980s, the building was purchased by the Nardo family and converted into the Atlantic Inn and Elaine’s Seaside Restaurant. After the Nardos closed the hotel and restaurant, it was leased to the South Shore Charter School until 2004 and has been empty since then. Plans for a performing arts center and marijuana cultivation facility were proposed over the years but never materialized.

On Friday, Sandonato and Tull, with the help of Hull High graduate Sean Rafterty and other members of the construction crew, carried the photos out of the building and loaded them onto the bed of Sandonato’s pickup truck. He brought them to the Paragon Boardwalk for storage while plans are finalized for their restoration.

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