The council was last month granted a resource consent to partially demolish the walls between the public car parking area above the Esplanade at St Clair and the council reserve that fronts on to Bedford St.
The walls are a remnant of the St Clair pavilion, which was demolished in the 1960s. They will be demolished to the sill level of the existing openings in the walls.
The pavilion, which housed waiting rooms, tea rooms, dressing rooms for surf bathers and toilets, was built by the council and officially opened in November 1912.
It was destroyed by fire in 1915 and replaced by a band rotunda, which was demolished in 1953.
City property manager Robert Clark said the council applied for consent to demolish the walls because they were crumbling and a target for vandalism, and needed to come down as both a matter of both public safety and to tidy up the area.
The demolition had been discussed with the Historic Places Trust, which did not see any merit in keeping the walls, he said.
Council planner Karen Bain, who granted the non-notified consent, said the council's application noted that while the walls were of some historical significance, they were not recognisable as part of the old St Clair pavilion, and that the proposed demolition would have no adverse effects on the area.
No written approvals from affected people were included in the application, as no-one was considered to be adversely affected by the proposal.
A council urban designer, who assessed the proposal, said the remnants of the pavilion wall were in a poor state of repair and had been identified in the past as being dangerous and in need of repair or demolition, Ms Bain said.
The plaster and mortar had deteriorated to the point where bricks were becoming dislodged and the wall detracted from the ''general amenity values'' of the Esplanade.
The demolition would make the remaining structure stronger and improve the link between the Esplanade and the park but would not require any excavation, which was good because it was likely important artefacts were under the ground.
Taking that advice into account, it was her view that while the demolition might raise issues of public interest, the ''dubious'' structural condition of the wall was such that its partial demolition was deemed necessary as a matter of public safety, she said.
Mr Clark said tenders were being sought for the demolition work.
