Avondale, Harare

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avondale is a suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe. It is located about 3.5km north of Harare City Centre. Avondale is the earliest suburb established in Harare and was laid out as a suburb in 1903. Prior to becoming a suburb Avondale was a dairy farm and was named after Avondale, Co. Wicklow, Ireland the home of the 19th Century Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell. Avondale was incorporated into Harare Municipality in 1934.

The first official marriage ceremony in Zimbabwe took place on Avondale farm in 1894 when the Count de la Panouse was married to Fanny Pearson (Countess Billie) by Col. Marshall Hole, the Chief Magistrate of Salisbury. Countess Billie managed the dairy farm and at the time supplied Salisbury with 100 bottles of milk a day and 100 pounds of butter a week.

Avondale has a well established shopping centre, which has two supermarkets, a fleamarket, 3 cinemas, several restaurants, including The Italian Bakery, and several other shops and businesses.