Page 128 - KBHA Bulletin 16

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Not indicated above was the intention to build an aquarium on a site 100 m beyond the

Sea Point rail terminus with trains running direct to the entrance. For whatever reasons
nothing further was heard of the idea, and it may be that its impracticability became

apparent once sufficient consideration had been given to the exposed nature of the
coastline and the heavy seas that battered it during winter storms.

The Tidal Pools

Instead, a number of tidal pools were constructed, and re-constructed, starting on 19
October 1895 when a private company, the Green & Sea Point Baths Co., opened what is

known as the Old Sea Point Bath. The site was one minute’s walk from Clarens Road rail

station and four minutes from the tramline along Main Road. The pool closed off a
natural gulley and measured 75 ft x 150 ft and 7 ft deep at the sea end where there was a

diving board. The pavilion comprised a wood and iron structure housing 21 changing
rooms, showers and sanitary conveniences. Two projecting wings gave access via steps to

the small beach and pool walls. During construction it became clear that spring tides
would flood the pavilion and it was therefore raised on concrete columns. Bathing

regulations were strict and bathing was segregated by time: gentlemen were permitted to

swim between sunrise and sunset, except that ladies had a monopoly every morning from
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (except Sunday), and between 3.30 to 4.30 p.m. in the afternoons.

(Denis Edwards, 1897). (Figs. 3.36 & 3.37.)

During the early 1900s a number of small pools were built at suitable gullies along the
coast: in 1907 Graaff’s Pool, in 1910 a small municipal pool at the end of Milton Road,

one at Three Anchor Bay, and another below Sea Point station. (Figs. 3.38 & 3.39)

The Old Sea Point Bath was destroyed by a great winter storm in July 1911 that flooded

the rail track, removing ballast, and inundated Beach Road and neighbouring private

gardens. The new pool was built about 100 m farther south, directly in front of Clarens
Road Station, and the First Sea Point Pavilion, built by Murray and Stewart, was attached

to it in March 1914. A pedestrian bridge over the rail track took passengers straight into