For anyone under the age of 85, the Suttons Beach pavilion has always been a feature of the Redcliffe foreshore.
But after years of neglect and exposure to the elements, the bayside landmark could vanish.
The historic building faces demolition, with concerns raised about its structural integrity.
On Wednesday, Moreton Bay Regional Council will vote to award a tender for "invasive testing" to work out how much, if any, of the pavilion can be preserved.
Council will then decide whether to restore the existing structure or knock it down and rebuild it.
Residents gathered at Suttons Beach on Sunday, pinning ribbons to the fences around the now-closed pavilion.
What started as a Facebook group has snowballed into a legal entity, the Save Suttons Beach Pavilion Preservation Group, complete with its own logo and merchandise.
"It literally is the last standing piece of history here in Redcliffe," Jodie Starr, president of the Save Suttons Beach Pavilion Preservation group, told reporters.
"So when this came about I was like, 'no way, I'm not going to see another piece of our history torn down,'" Ms Starr said.
Built in 1937, the Suttons Beach pavilion has had many lives, hosting dances during World War II and later the Miss Australia carnival.
Originally comprising a kiosk, showers and change rooms, the building eventually became a museum and most recently, a restaurant.
But after several renovations and extensions, little remains of the building's 1937 fabric.
The current "art deco" appearance of the building is the product of an early 2000s facelift, according to a report to council.
It stated the works "extensively, unsympathetically and irreversibly" altered the building.
"It's like chalk and cheese," Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery said, admitting the council had to "take some responsibility" for the building's run-down state.
He said commercial tenants did not carry out maintenance they were meant to under lease agreements.
Cracked and crumbling: building suffers from elements
The building has an issue with water from the cliffs coming through the walls and into the slab of the older pavilion.
Cracked and crumbling concrete has been observed in parts of the building.
However, an engineering report to council in 2020 concluded the structure posed "no immediate risk of failure".
The report recommended more testing of the concrete slab to gauge its future life expectancy before council committed to a significant redevelopment.
The fight to save the pavilion has attracted support within council, with division six councillor Karl Winchester addressing residents.
"Residents quite rightly see this as a line in the sand for our community," he said.
Mr Winchester is advocating for money to be put aside in next month's council budget towards either a restoration or rebuild.
"It's not necessarily going to be the entirety of the work required here, but we need to have a funding commitment clearly in our budget document," he said.
"Ratepayers expect us to do the right thing by this building."
The mayor would not put a figure on the potential cost of restoration but said a rebuild was likely in the tens of millions.
Newly re-elected local MP, the LNP's Luke Howarth, had secured a $5 million funding commitment from the previous federal government.
While federal Labor made no commitment, Mr Howarth said he would continue to lobby for Commonwealth funding.
"It should be a bipartisan issue," Mr Howarth said.
"Without state or federal funding, [the restoration or rebuild] would take so much longer to be done."
Mr Howarth also called on the state Labor government to stump up funding.
The member for Redcliffe, Yvette D'Ath, could not be reached for comment today but previously said it was a council issue.
'Anything can be repaired'
Heritage architect Andrew Ladlay wants to see the building conserved in some form.
"Anything can be repaired," he told the ABC.
"It's been expanded quite a bit to the point where it's hard to recognise the original building. But originality isn't always important when it comes to cultural significance."
There's now been a proposal for the nearby Redcliffe Peninsula Surf Lifesaving Club to move into the pavilion.
The council has signed a non-binding statement of intent with the club, exploring its potential to manage the building.
"As a community not-for-profit organisation, the Club sees significant potential benefits for its members and the broader community," the statement read.
But not everyone's on board.
Local June McCrorie said she wanted the charm of the old English-style bathing pavilion to be maintained.
"We've got beautiful surf clubs but we don't want another one with pokies," she said.
The speeches on Sunday ended with a poem written by long-time local Rupert McCall.
