Semaphore Palais, from 1922, Adelaide beach icon saved by state heritage listing in 1989; kept in public hands

Adelaide beachside Semaphore Palais, from 1922, was saved from threat of being demolished by having it placed on the South Australian state heritage list in 1989. In 2024, the state government decided against selling the palais and to keep it as a public asset, leased as a hotel (inset).
Images courtesy The Rambling Wombat blog and Semaphore Palais Hotel

Semaphore Palais and Cafe, built in 1922, represented a peak of Adelaide beach culture, combining a kiosk, bathing pavilion, tearooms and dance hall or palais.

Moves for the palais project were set off by a 1917 storm damaging the baths at the end of Semaphore jetty. Responding to residents complaining about lack of bathing changerooms, showers and lockers, Port Adelaide council introduced a beach improvement scheme in 1921 including a retaining seawall and promenade between the Semaphore and Largs jetties, with lawns and gardens, amusements, kiosks, shelter sheds, bathing and other amenities.

Ratepayers voted four to one against the council taking a £22,000 loan to finance the scheme. In 1922, the council opted instead to lease out a proposed site, with the lessee to build improvements. William Arthur Stewart Dunn and business partners Frederick (Freddie) Norman and Sidney Fricker, all local builders, tendered to construct a pavilion on the foreshore for a 21-years lease.

The City of Port Adelaide designed the pavilion, likely under city engineer W. W. Tapp with Dunn suggesting extensions. The pavilion was erected in front of the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron’s clubrooms, angering some squadron members, with D. J. Gordon raising the matter in parliament. At the official opening in December 1922, Port Adelaide mayor Henry Slade described the pavilion as “one of the best of its kind in Australasia” – and surpassing its beach rivals Glenelg and Henley Beach.

The pavilion became a popular seaside destination, with its hall hosting jazz music and dances. The palais name for the Semaphore Beach bathing pavilion was borrowed from other Adelaide dance halls, notably the Austral Gardens Palais de Danse, later Palais Royal, on North Terrace, that opened in 1914. The Semaphore pavilion was named the Maris Palais from around 1928, probably after a change in owner, until the 1950s.

South Australia’s economy, and use of the palais, declined from 1927 with the Great Depression. Dunn, who had run the pavilion with his wife Olive, withdrew from the lease, leaving the Fricker family in charge. Financial pressure, after Freddie Fricker died in 1928, forced Sidney Fricker and his family to sell their home and move into the Palais until around 1938, when control was transferred to Port Adelaide council.

Leonard (Len) Robert Northey and J. Morris took over the lease. Northey also was a builder and owned Semaphore carousel that he moved from Henley to Semaphore in 1938. Among other alterations, Northey, in 1940, painted the pavilion white with green trim – changed to khaki during World War II because of Japanese invasion fears. Northey and Morris retained the lease until Northey died in 1966.

Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club took over and superficially modernised the building. The club remained at the Palais until the mid 1980s when the council assumed responsibility. In 1987, as recommended by the city engineer, the council decided the Palais was beyond repair and should be demolished. The community backlash saw the building protected by being confirmed as a state heritage place in 1989.

Proposals to conserve and reuse the Palais were interrupted by severe fire damage in 1993. After several years delays and false starts, the Palais was refurbished by entrepreneurs Anthony and Lyneece Schmidt and opened as a hotel, restaurant and entertainment complex in 1996.

In 2007, the building, now owned by the South Australian government, was leased to Port Adelaide Enfield Council and subleased to Semaphore Palais Hotel Pty Ltd (SPH) as the Palais Hotel. In 2024, the government, responding to community sentiment, decided that the building wouldn’t be sold and remain a public asset, with a new 15-years lease to SPH.