Melbourne's colourful Brighton Beach boxes given heritage protection

Melbourne’s famous Brighton Beach boxes have been granted heritage protection.

Nestled in the white sands in the city’s south-east, the 92 colourful gems have been a popular drawcard for tourists for more than a century.

“I love the colours, it’s just fun… it’s not something you see on every beach,” one visitor told 9NEWS today.

Today the Heritage Council gave the boxes and their surrounds heritage protection, saying that the colourful icons were “historically significant for their association with the development of beach culture in Victoria from the 1840s to the present day”.

“The structures demonstrat(e) the principal characteristics of Bathing Boxes through their small scale, gabled roofs, and rudimentary design.”

Selling for around $300,000 a piece, the boxes do not come cheap – and offer little in the way of accommodation.

“You can’t sleep in them, there’s no power, no water… but you can put your esky in there and all your beach gear,” box owner and member of the Brighton Bathing Box Association John Rundell said.

“It’s an expensive shed.”

Bayside City Council has welcomed the heritage listing, but given the listing extends beyond the boxes themselves, they are yet to determine the impact it will have on its plans to re-develop the local lifesaving club.

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