• Vivamus lobortis
  • Ut porttitor urna ut pretium
  • Phasellus convallis tincidunt enim.

Swirl, Jacka Boulevard

St Kilda the beautiful [1931]
image vp1339-022-h000, State Library of Victoria

Click for details

Other Names:  
Date built: ca. 1928
Architect:  
Builder:  
Cost:  
Client: St Kilda Amusement Company Ltd.
Description: Large gabled roofed shed containing electrically propelled rotating chairs.
History  
   Source  Summary or [note]
1. Argus, 1932.02.06 p.12

Companies Act 1928. – St Kilda Amusement Ltd. (In liquidation) – Tenders are invited for the following assets: The Building and Plant, known as the Swirl £8,000. Tenders received on or before 5pm, 19 February.
2.  Argus, 1935.10.24 p.2 Tenders are invited for the erection of timber and iron additions &c, to the Swirl, Lower Esplanade, St Kilda.
3. Anne Longmire, St Kilda the show goes on, p.4 The St Kilda Amusement Company ran electrically propelled cars and played waltz music in a building called The Swirl.
4. Anne Longmire, St Kilda the show goes on, p.19 The St. Kilda Amusement Company, which operated the Swirl, went into voluntary liquidation in 1932 and Walter O. J. Phillips of 40 Vale Street, St. Kilda, who was not related to the Phillips Brothers from Seattle, purchased its assets in June 1932.
5. Anne Longmire, St Kilda the show goes on, p.50 [re Centennial Celebrations 1934] At the Swirl site, W. 0. J. Phillips installed electric table ball games of skill which he had designed himself.
[later] W. 0. J. Phillips decided that: "The spirit of the day seems to be SPEED", so he tried to change his old cars to "Auto-skooters" in May 1935, but was prevented by the objections of Luna Park, which was anxious to protect the profitability of its Dodgemcars.
6. Action Against Liquidator, Argus, 1932.09.10 p.19 On December 22, 1926 John Charles Phillips, of Beaconsfield, his brother and another man formed a company, St Kilda Amusements Ltd, for the purpose of exploiting a device known as "swirl chairs" the patent rights of which were held by the Phillips, brothers. The company leased an area of land at St Kilda but the venture did not prosper and on October 22, 1931, the company was wound up.