The pavilion is a building located in the centre of Fitzroy Gardens in East Melbourne between Tudor Village, Fairies Tree Lawn and the Temple of winds.

Fitzroy Gardens is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and is a popular destination to visitors to the city, as well as city workers, who use the gardens heavily during their lunch time break and their journey to and from work. Residents of East Melbourne and Jolimont also identify strongly with the Fitzroy Gardens as part of their neighbourhood.

See a map of its location.

Since 2004 the pavilion operated as a café, however the tenant vacated the building upon the expiration of the lease in March 2017. This was due to a number of contributing factors including:

• the building quality and maintenance requirements
• investigation of future use of the site
• relocation of the tourist centre to Sinclair Cottage.

In early 2018, Council was approached by the State Government to use the pavilion as a business start-up (programming), which was deemed to be a great outcome for the space. However the State Government withdrew from the agreement due to budgetary constraints.

To maintain activation and security of the site, the building was occupied by Tourism Operations staff (associated with Cooks’ Cottage), while renovation works were undertaken on the nearby Sinclair’s Cottage.

The Pavilion is currently being used by the Creative Spaces program until June 2021 to provide opportunities to artists to help reactive and reinvigorate Melbourne whilst providing a boost to the local economy, in line with the goals of City of Melbourne’s COVID-19 Reactivation and Recovery Plan.

The Fitzroy Gardens are located on Crown land and permanently reserved as public gardens, with Committee of Management status vested in Council. Under the terms of the Crown Land Reserves Act and Regulations, activities and services in the gardens need to support its main function as a garden. This means that services that support the visitors are acceptable, but other uses that have nothing to do with the gardens are not. The three options are consistent with this approach.

The options have also been guided by the Master Plan for the Fitzroy Gardens in 1996 and Master Plan Review 2010, which identify increases in services or infrastructure solely to meet local residents recreational needs are not consistent with the broad purpose of the Gardens. The Master Plan Review in 2010 originally envisaged that if an integrated visitor facility was established in the Gardens, the Pavilion could be removed and the area converted to an informal use of a picnic and mobile refreshments area. At the time, the Pavilion was under lease until March 2017, so in 2010 Council chose to retain the café in its current location and consider the issue of rebuilding a facility suitable to the requirements of current garden users on the same time when the lease expired. As it has been 11 years since the Master Plan Review and the integrated visitors centre has been constructed, it is now a great opportunity to ask the community what their preference is for the future and purpose of the site.

If the community engagement outcome is to retain the building (either as commercial or not-for-profit community use) then Council will carry out an expression of interest to lease campaign to determine a successful operator of the premises.

If the community engagement outcome is to convert the area to open space, this may include removal of the building and returning to parkland, creating a new garden area or an informal picnic and playground space. Council’s Parks and City Greening Team will design the landscape of the area to ensure the space meets visitors passive recreational needs.

All feedback gathered during the consultation period will help inform management recommendations to Council. The consultation findings and recommendations will be presented in a briefing paper to Council.