Page 81 - Bulletin 22 2019

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which they acknowledged the local opposition and withdrew their recommendation to

proceed with the pavilion. Instead, Council should rather save the £3,500 that would have
been expended on it. However, the IPC insisted that the current conditions at the beach could

not continue: certain boxes needed to be relocated to free up beach space and many needed to
be repaired and repainted. Council adopted the report and later that year the front row of 11

boxes near the pool was removed and relocated to the north end of the beach at Council
expense, and the necessary repairs were carried out.

The number of boxes continued to rise and by 1920 there were 57 with two rows at the south
end and a new double row forming at the north end. In 1923 there were 25 applications for

boxes and a third row of 20 was added at the south and 10 more at the north. There were now

87 boxes, slightly more than at Muizenberg at that moment. All conformed to Council’s
standard designs. As at Muizenberg, permits initially cost 21s and the sites were approved by

the Engineer, but as distinct from Muizenberg all boxes here were privately owned and
maintenance and painting were the responsibility of the owners.

By 1925 applicants for sites were being told that no more were available, but requests

continued coming in till 1929. Local residents requested Council to therefore limit ownership

to residents of Kalk Bay and St. James but this was rejected. In 1926 the imminent widening,
straightening and electrification of the railway required the removal of six boxes and the

moving forward of 20 others and resulted in the final distribution of boxes that would last for
the next 50-odd years. There were 49 at the south end in three rows and 38 at the north end in

one-and-a-half rows. In 1933 a toilet block was built on the Common behind the southern
group of boxes. (Figs. 2.53 & 2.54.) In October 1931 Mr AT Lotz arranged for the SAR & H

to transport sand from Fish Hoek, where it was removing the dunes, to replenish the eroded

beach at St. James.

The lack of sites may seem curious today because an extensive open green area existed in

front of the station running as far as the Aquarium. However, this was then, and still is,
owned by the railways (except for the Aquarium site) and it was separated from the Council
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land at the beach by a fence with gates. The alignment of that boundary at 40 from the rail
line gave the boxes their ‘angled’ orientation to the beach thereby, fortuitously, creating a

picturesque backdrop to the pool and beach. (Figs. 2.55 - 2.57.)