Area Info

Chatswood Area Info

Chatswood is a suburb on the North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Chatswood is located 10 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the City of Willoughby. Chatswood West is a separate suburb. Chatswood is colloquially known as 'Chatty'.

Chatswood is believed to be named after the pet name "Chat" of the second wife of Richard Harnett (a pioneer of the district) and the original "wooded" nature of the area.

Geography

The main thoroughfare is Victoria Avenue, which travels east-west is dissected by the railway line. Most of Victoria Avenue lies to the east of the Chatswood railway station, with only a few hundred metres to the west of the railway line, until it ends at the Pacific Highway. To drive from one end of Victoria Avenue to the other, it is necessary to detour via Help Street. Pedestrians can cross directly over the railway line, via the railway station.

The Interchange was a small shopping centre and bus interchange built in the late 1980s which provided pedestrian access between the two halves of Victoria Avenue. Demolition of The Interchange began in April 2005 to accommodate the construction of the Epping to Chatswood railway line.

From the train station proceeding east, Victoria Avenue is a mall with pedestrian access only to Chatswood Westfield and Lemon Grove Shopping Mall, it then reverts to a road continues past Chatswood Chase into residential parts of the suburb, towards Willoughby.

Commercial Area

Chatswood is a major commercial and retail hub of the North Shore district. It has two major shopping centres, several high rise office and apartment towers The retail half of Chatswood lies mainly to the east of the train line, whereas the majority of high rise office buildings lie to the west. Chatswood has the Australian headquarters of Vodafone and offices of companies such as Nortel Networks, Optus, Smith's Snackfood, IBM and NEC. A number of high-density residential towers are also located around Chatswood.

'Chatswood Chase', completed in 1983, features a David Jones store, K Mart, Coles and 120 specialty stores, focusing on designer-label brands. Westfield Chatswood features a Myer store, Target, Coles supermarket and Hoyts cinema complex, and 300 speciality stores. There is a second Hoyts cinema complex in the smaller shopping centre called the 'Mandarin Centre'.

'Westfield Chatswood', owned and managed by The Westfield Group, originally opened in January 30 1986 and was redeveloped in the late 1990s to incorporate a previously free-standing Grace Bros store. Major stores in the centre include Myer, Coles, Target, Toys 'R' Us, JB Hi-Fi and Rebel Sport. The centre also includes a 6 screen Hoyts cinema complex. Westfield Chatswood has its own parking station and is a two-minute walk from Chatswood station. 'Lemon Grove' is a small shopping centre located opposite the pedestrian mall.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, a relatively high percentage of immigrants from Hong Kong, China and a few other southeast-Asian groups have settled in the area. This has provided a good selection of Cantonese, Vietnamese and Greek restaurants and eateries.

The Melody Markets are held each Thursday in Chatswood Mall, Victoria Avenue and feature food and craft stalls. Often there is live music performing in the centre of the mall including bands from students in the surrounding schools. Visitors can also challenge each other on the giant chess board.

Reference: Wikipedia