A facelift for a bathing beauty
The Fairfield Park Boathouse crew have won a 21-year tender to run St Kilda's historic West Beach Pavilion - the handsome, Mediterranean-style building situated on Beaconsfield Parade, near Fitzroy Street's famous Catani Gardens.
The West Beach Development Consortium will develop a 200-seat tearoom, grill and kiosk, There will also be a recreational retail and hire outlet including kite boarding, rollerblading, skateboarding, and cycling, There's also space for community events and exhibitions and some limited commercial uses.
The West Beach Bathing Pavilion is one of three 'open sea bathing houses' built by the former St Kilda Council in 1928. It is identical to the building now operating as Donovan's restaurant. The Elwood pavilion was demolished in 1971.
The West Beach Pavilion is a stunning building but a recent condition report revealed that it was close to falling down. The tender means the pavilion will delight a future generation of beachgoers at no financial cost to the council or community. Food will be affordable and the community will he able to enjoy a fabulous space free of charge.
The redeveloped pavilion will celebrate its coastal setting and make the most of what is a design landmark. Under the deal that is currently being finalised, the operators will be required to keeping café prices to the range covered by The Age's Cheap Food Guide. A similar provision, negotiated in 1991, applies to the downstairs of the Stokehouse.
Like Donnovan's, the pavilion will incorporate public toilets and change rooms. A boardwalk will be built around the building. lt will also include an area for a local environment group, Earthcare, to store the equipment it needs to maintain the nearby stretch of saltmarsh.
The redevelopment of the pavilion is the first project commissioned under St Kilda's Edge, the 20-year program to rejuvenate the St Kilda foreshore.