The Avenues is an area of high status Victorian housing located in the northwest of Kingston upon Hull. It is formed by four main tree lined straight avenues running west off the NNE/SSW running Princes Avenue.
The Avenues area, originally built as middle class housing in the late 19th century has remained a popular residential area; its popularity with left wing intellectuals and academics, and varied leafy cosmopolitan ambience has caused it to be stereotyped as Hull's 'Muesli Belt'.[1]
Princes Avenue was a popular urban shopping street during the 20th century, in the 21st century it has remained commercial with increasing numbers of specialist shops, restaurants and other food outlets.[2]
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The Avenues were constructed on a green field site known as Newland Tofts from the latter part of the 19th century onwards. The boundaries were formed by Newland Tofts Lane, and the parallel Derringham Dike to the east, which later became Princes Avenue. To the west a field boundary between Newland Tofts and Ewe lands and Chanter Lands fields later became the western boundary, eventually becoming Chanterlands Avenue.[3] To the north the boundary was Setting Dike, and to the south the area was limited by the new (1847) General Cemetery built on the northern side of Spring Bank West.[3] (earlier known as Derringham Bank.[4])
The estate was formally opened by the developer David Parkinson Garbutt in 1875; it was built on the outskirts of Hull with recently opened facilities nearby: Pearson Park opened 1860) on the east side of Princes Avenue, and Botanic Gardens railway station (up to 1881 known as Cemetery Gates) at the southern end of Princes Avenue[2] The site was laid out on a generous scale for the middle and prosperous classes; the largest street; Westbourne Avenue was 18m wide.[2]
Early developments included houses by George Gilbert Scott the Younger, built 1877-79,[2] which are now listed buildings.[5] The area was primarily residential, in 1888 the Hull School board opened the 'Industrial School for Girls', a residential corrective institution on Park Street. St. Cuthberts church was constructed 1906 on Marlborough Avenue.[note 1][6]
In 1900 electric trams began to travel on Princes Avenue on a route that linked to the city centre by Spring Bank.[7]
By 1910, the estate was mostly developed with few vacant plots remaining, the land to the north (Newland Avenue), and to the south (an area of terraced housing between the General Cemetery and the Avenues) had been developed as housing,[8] by the 1920s the land to the west had been urbanised with the construction of Chanterlands avenue, and associated terraced housing.[9]
Both sides of Princes Avenue were developed by 1910,[8] with notable structures including the Elim Pentecostal church (1897-99),[10] and Methodist church (1905, architect Alfred Gelder).[11]
Much of the Avenues area was developed piecemeal in small plots; many of the British housing styles used in the late 19th and early 20th century are found in the area, including revived Queen Anne style (in the Gilbert Scott Jr. houses), mock tudor, arts and crafts, and a variety of vernacular styles.[2]
As part of the original layout of the development Westbourne, Malborough and Victoria Avenue had cast iron decorative fountains in the centre of the roads, with two more on Prices Avenue. All were of similar circular tiered design. The fountains on Princes Avenue were removed in 1926 due to increased traffic.[12] The remaining fountains on Westbourne and Park Avenue are now listed structures,[13][note 2][7][15]
The tram system on Princes Avenue was replaced with a trolleybus service in 1937,[7] which were replaced by motor buses in the 1960s.[16] The Botanic Gardens railway station closed in the 1960s with the closure of the Victoria Dock Branch Line.[17]
The area became a council Conservation Area in 1974.[2] In the 1980s the area experienced problems with subsidence due to a drought and extensive tree planting in the area causing drying of the clay subsoil, as a result many trees were cut down,[18] many of the tree stumps were carved into crude sculptures by local artists[19]
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