Page 28 - Bulletin 17 2013

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The Provincial Administrator approved the raising of the loan enabling the City Engineer

to proceed with constructing the layout while Mr Grant prepared the pavilion plans. (Figs.
1.23 – 1.24.) These were approved by the Administrator on 30 September 1926 and Col.

G. T. Nicholson (designer of Kalk Bay Harbour) advised on the location of the pavilion.
It would stand east of the old pavilion on the axis of Atlantic Road, which replaced York

Road as the main approach road to the beach. In February 1927 Murray and Stewart were
appointed for construction of the first portion of the reinforced concrete promenade in the

direction of the vlei mouth. On 29 September 1927 Council accepted Murray and

Stewart’s tender for construction of the Pavilion at a cost of £81,279. Mr A. W. van der
Houten was responsible for the layout of the extensive gardens. The contract provided for

the completion of all the works within 23 months of handing over the site on 2 October

1927. The new municipal offices on Atlantic Road, including a fire station, were also
constructed during 1927-28, and Beach Road was widened and improved. So a large

portion of the beachfront area became a building site at this time.

More or less concurrently, in 1924, Muizenberg civil engineer, Mr J. Hedley, revived the
idea of a mountain railway up Peck’s Valley. It would provide access to the plateau

where a golf course was planned and a possible sanatorium might be built. For reasons

unknown nothing came of it.

The new pavilion was opened on 14 December 1929 by the Administrator Mr J. H.
Conradie, 18 years to the day after the old one had been opened by Sir Frederic de Waal.

Mr Conradie asserted that Muizenberg was now on the way to becoming the “Lido of
South Africa.” The Mayor’s Minute described the new pavilion as “an imposing edifice

complete with magnificent appointments without parallel in the Southern Hemisphere.”

(MM 1930: 23.) The whole project had cost £170,510 – within the original sum allocated.

The Pavilion was constructed of brick and plaster on reinforced concrete piles and beams.

It comprised: a grand entrance (with cloakrooms to either side) facing Beach Road with a
central well as a special architectural feature; a theatre (with floor specially laid for

dancing) with seating for approximately 1,500 people; a gallery, private boxes and