Page 59 - Bulletin 22 2019

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The list of bathing box owners reads like a Who’s Who of Cape Town and the Rand. About

20% of owners were from ‘up the line.’ During the late 20s the area east of the vlei mouth
started taking on an exclusive character: here bathing box sites were allocated to the Prime

Minister, the Admiral of the Royal Navy, the Governor-General, the Provincial
Administrator, and the Chairman of the Improvements and Parks Committee, among others.

Concurrently, there were numerous complaints from owners, again including Dr Beck, about

willful damage to the doors and windows of bathing boxes, as well as Council’s

admonishments of owners about poor maintenance.

Construction of the new facilities began in October 1927 and the pavilion was opened by the

Administrator Mr JH Conradie on 14 December 1929. It was described as “an imposing
edifice complete with magnificent appointments without parallel in the Southern

Hemisphere.” (Minute of the Mayor, 1930.) For about a year the old and new pavilions co-
existed until the old one was demolished in late 1930. Its demolition was approved in June

1929 with the stipulation that its place be taken by bathing boxes “in order to secure adequate
protection of the beach against sand drift”. (Minutes of the Finance Committee 21/6/1929).

(Figs. 2.25 & 2.26.) Its place was taken by a Chalet on either side of which a total of 51

bathing boxes – 30 private sites and 21 for daily letting – were erected. The Chalet (still there
today) was sited on the centre point of the old pavilion to take advantage of the underground

services already installed there.

The number of bathing boxes in the Scheme totaled 174, over 80% (142) of them along West
Beach. In the afternoons when the sun swung to the north and the sea breeze amplified the

prevalent south-easter, they created a number of wind-sheltered sun-traps, particularly: ‘Peter

Pan’s Corner’ (play area for children), Neptune’s Corner hard by the pavilion, and Maiden’s
Corner (also known as the ‘Snakepit’) on East Beach. Despite the apparent set-back from the

HWM spring tides and storm surges still washed under the pavilion, promenade and boxes

and sometimes into the car park. (Figs. 2.27 – 2.33.)

Shortly after completion of the Scheme residents living in Marine Estate on the east side of
Zandvlei complained to Council about the driftsand ‘menace’. The dry sand was whipped

across the beach area between the canal and Vergenoeg and inland across Royal Road and
among the houses lying between Axminster and Margate roads. It blew like a ‘blizzard’