1911 - 1928

When daytime bathing was de-criminalised and infrastructure such as the Bondi tram was boosted, Waverley Council saw that Sydney beach goers needed better facilities at their favourite seaside hangout. In 1909, Council put out a request for tenders for change rooms to be located on the beach and eventually accepted a design submitted by the firm Taylor and Bills, for a structure that would cost £3000 to build.

Locals affectionately called this first Bondi pavilion either the castle or the castle pavilion, because its whimsical turrets were like something out of a fairytale. It was officially called The Bondi Surf Sheds and was sometimes referred to as The Municipal Surf Sheds.

Pre–World War 1, a major motivating factor behind the sheds’ construction was the need to stop male swimmers from getting changed on the beach, in full daylight, thereby demonstrating their uncouthness during a period characterized by great modesty. Despite looking like a castle, the building was simply a dressing shed in which swimmers and bathers could get in and out of their swimming costume in privacy.

The structure featured a thousand ‘dressing boxes’ – 750 for men and 250 for women – and each cubicle contained a seat and several books for visitors to read while relaxing on the golden sands. The original pavilion also featured The Mermaid Café, at which beach goers could buy light refreshments.

A notable feature of the structure was its side passages, which led from the changing boxes to the beach and in which visitors had to wade through a channel of water to wash the sand from their feet.

The building was opened on Tuesday, 3 October 1911 but was officially opened a few weeks later, on Saturday, 18 November, at 3 p.m.

As bathing – in both the water and the sun – became more and more popular at the post-war ‘playground of the Pacific’, the surf sheds and other changing facilities became patently inadequate. On Wednesday, 6 June 1928, after a good 17-year run, the ‘castle’ was demolished to make way for the present-day Bondi Pavilion and the other elements of the Bondi Beach and Park Improvement Scheme.