When the first iteration of Bondi Pavilion was built in 1911, it had 1000 changing “sheds” connected to underground tunnels leading straight to the sand. This way, the public would not have to witness the parade of “scantily clad” bodies on their way to bathe. Bondi Beach, how you’ve changed.
After decades of false starts, the current Bondi Pavilion, which opened in 1929, will unveil its new look to the public on Wednesday September 21. The $48 million heritage restoration, which took two years to complete, reveals a near-century-old building repurposed to ensure a long future as a central hub for the beach community.
“There’s going to be another 100 years of life in it,” Waverley Council mayor Paula Masselos tells Broadsheet. “These old buildings have a special quality about them that is not only a nod to the past, it’s also an indication of the type of soul the community has. I think we have a moral obligation to ensure that we protect these important places so that future generations can enjoy them as well.”
Peter Tonkin, of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects, was the lead architect on the project, and said redesigning Bondi Pavilion was among the most inspiring projects of his career.
“It was built on sand, effectively, with the kinds of foundations that no one would use these days,” Tonkin tells Broadsheet. He says that the team used ingenuity and innovation in design to restore the old building, which was close to falling over due to the hostile coastal environment.
“It was really a question of looking at what the building’s strengths were, and turning it inside out so that the internalised, daggy bits suddenly became beautiful spaces,” Tonkin tells Broadsheet. “There were a lot of beautiful spaces in the building that, through poor presentation, just didn’t present at their best. We conserved things that we had at the beginning, so that it could shine.”
The Indigenous floor mosaic, an 1983 collaboration between Northeast Arnhem Land artist Terry Yumbulul and local artists Lloyd Kelemen and Justin Robson, has been preserved.
“The builders went to extraordinary lengths to protect it,” Masselos says. “There are very significant spiritual and cultural stories in this artwork. It’s one of the earliest examples of Indigenous cultural practice and story translated through the mosaic media.”
The restoration also unearthed a few surprises.
“We found three beautiful murals upstairs in the theatre,” Masselos says. “We think they date back to the 1930s.” Some signage from the building’s brief Turkish baths era in the 1920s has also been found, restored and displayed.
Tonkin says the new roof tiles are very dear to his heart. “The building had terrible grey roof tiles which were very visible, and just kind of crushed the spirit of the building,” he says.
The original tiles were only ever photographed in black and white, so researching the original roof included looking at a range of beach buildings from the same period. The new roof recreates the original 1928 cordova pattern with 33,000 Spanish tiles in a variety of glazed colours. “It’s got this joyous, light-reflecting roof now that lifts the building up instead of crashing it down.”
The upgraded building includes a welcome centre that also serves as an information desk and a box office. The existing art gallery has been updated and will launch with the Waverley Art Prize this Friday evening. There are new flexible cultural spaces, including the Bondi Story Room, which has an interactive, wall-sized touch screen with information about local history. The pottery studio has had a facelift (and scored an additional kiln), and there are much-needed new toilets, showers and change spaces. The heritage-listed views running the length and breadth of the building have been restored, and a new flow-through to Campbell Parade has created an unimpeded view from the main street, through the building, and out to the beach.
The project is on track to be awarded a five-star green rating by the Green Building Council of Australia. Throughout the build, 90 per cent of the construction waste was recycled, and only certified eco-friendly, low-toxicity paints and sealers were used. The Pavilion has 217 solar panels which produce 70 per cent of the pavilion’s energy usage.
Dining will return to the strip in January with Glory Days Bondi, a cafe from the group behind Glorietta and The Woolpack Hotel, to be installed in the old Bucket List location. House Made Hospitality, the group behind the multi-level CBD dining hotspot Hinchcliff House, will launch Bondi Promenade, an all-day cafe, bakery and bistro at the southern end of the building.
Bondi Pavilion will reopen on September 21, with eateries slated to open in January.
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