The new Sea Baths opened in 1931. By then, the concept of enclosed sea baths was already outmoded and the baths were never as successful as envisaged. The building deteriorated due to lack of maintenance, and by 1950 the timber wings of the men's baths which stretched east to sea were considered unsafe and closed. The 1931 lease expired in 1953. In 1955, the government signed a new lease with South Pacific Holdings, and some time later the deteriorated men’s baths and the decorative parapets were demolished, and the toilets closed. The concrete women’s section was repaired.