BATHING PAVILION

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 157, 31 March 1937, Page 5

BATHING PAVILION

Oriental Bay Building Nearly Completed

Wellington’s first modern bathing pavilion, that at Oriental Bay, should be completed iu about a fortnight's time. However, the locks to be fitted, to the many locker doors have not yet arrived, so that the actual date of the handing over to the 'Wellington City Council of the new 'building cannot yet be stated. The new pavilion is an attractive structure and one which provides a happy break in the sweep of the seawall at Oriental Bay. It is erected on tlie projection of hind where the 'bandstand formerly stood and the stout concrete sea-wall which protected that area has been utilised in connection with the pavilion. In order to keep the general level of the pavilion floors low, so that the superstructure would not obstruct the view, the earth within the semi-circle described by that sea-wall was excavated and the'lower floor of the dressing-rooms are a good six feet below the top of the wall. Above the level of the old wall rises Ibe new pavilion, semi-circular in shape, with a panel, of large windows, reinforced with wire, all round. It is surmounted by a flat roof which ends in a. square-trellised balustrade, broken at intervals with pylon lamp stands, which carry globes of opal glass. There are 10 of these lamps'and when all are alight the effw-t is very pleasing indeed. Golden-toned cement is the finish used. The flat roof, approached direct from the footpath by two short flights of concrete steps, is entirely unobstructed. All that will be placed there are garden seats for those who may wish to observe the bathers and the play of sunlight on the waters of the harbour. From the level of Oriental Parade one descends into the pavilion a few steps into a passage that runs parallel with the road. All dressing apartments open off this passage —those for the men and boys on the western side and those for the women and younger girls on the eastern side. The men’s dressing apartment is fitted with two stands of lockers, with doors of figured rimu. These lockers are convenient in size, being 18in. in depth by 144 in. in breadth and. 3Uin. in height. 'There are two tiers of lockers in each stand 158 lockers for men and a similar number for women. There are no lockers provided in the children’s dressing-rooms. 'There are, in addition, clothes pegs on the walls.

At first glance one wonders why so many large windows are provided when none command a view of the harbour from within. 'The fact that the rooms are placed well below the level of tlie old sea-wall is the reason for that. The glass used is opaque. Utility and good taste have been happily combined in the planning of the new pavilion, which will be under the jurisdiction of the director of parks, baths and beaches, Mr. J. G. MacKenzic.