‘Landmark’ to replace Stokehouse

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Iconic Stokehouse restaurant is torn down following Friday night's blaze, with Port Phillip mayor Amanda Stevens promising "the best possible outcome" for the venue's future. Nine News.

Architects say the fire that burnt down St Kilda's much-loved Stokehouse restaurant on Friday night has provided an opportunity to build a new landmark beach destination on the foreshore.

''It's about time inner Melbourne had a really exciting piece of beach architecture,'' said Philip Goad, professor of architecture at Melbourne University.

Hundreds of people watched on Friday night as a fire that took hold in the restaurant's kitchen razed the building. Port Phillip Council has demolished the remains.

The ruins of the Stokehouse reveal the task in rebuilding. Photo: Paul Jeffers

And, like the debate following the St Kilda Pier kiosk fire in 2003, locals and urban design experts are divided over what should be rebuilt on the Stokehouse site: a heritage replica of the early 1900s building or a contemporary venue.

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''I would like to see a similar process to the one engaged in to rebuild the historic St Kilda pier kiosk,'' deputy mayor and local councillor for the area Serge Thomann said.

The restaurant sat on Crown land, and the state government and the council in conjunction with the Van Haandel Group, which holds a 21-year lease over the site, will decide what happens.

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'Landmark' to replace Stokehouse