Chatswood was named after Charlotte Hartnett, wife of then Mayor of Willoughby, Richard Hartnett (a pioneer of the district) and the original "wooded" nature of the area. The moniker derives from her nickname "Chattie" and was shortened from Chattie's Wood to Chatswood. Residential settlement of Chatswood began in 1876 and grew with the installation of the North Shore railway line in 1890 and also increased with the opening of the Harbour Bridge in 1932. Chatswood is one of the North Shore's major commercial and retail districts. The Australian headquarters of Vodafone, CSR Limited and Carter Holt Harvey[3] as well as offices of Nortel Networks, Optus, Smith's Snackfood, IBM, NEC, Leighton Holdings and Cisco Systems are located in Chatswood. A number of high-density residential towers are also located in Chatswood. Victoria Avenue pedestrian mall, facing west towards Chatswood railway station Chatswood has two major shopping centres, Chatswood Chase and Westfield Chatswood. There are also a few smaller shopping centres such as 'Lemon Grove' on the pedestrian mall and the 'Mandarin Centre' [4] beside Westfield on the corner of Albert Avenue and Victor Street. 'Metro Chatswood' [5] is a new shopping centre currently under construction above the Chatswood railway and bus interchange featuring retail, high rise office and apartment towers. 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 but was demolished to accommodate the construction of the Epping to Chatswood railway line and subsequently 'Metro Chatswood'. Chatswood skyline 'Chatswood Chase', completed in 1983, features a David Jones store, K Mart, Coles and 120 specialty stores, focusing on designer-label brands. 'Westfield Chatswood', owned and managed by The Westfield Group, originally opened on January 30, 1986 and was redeveloped in the late 1990s to incorporate a previously free-standing Grace Bros store.[6] It now features a Myer department store, Target, Coles supermarket, Toys 'R' Us, JB Hi-Fi, Rebel Sport, Hoyts cinema complex, and 300 speciality stores. There is also a second Hoyts cinema complex in the 'Mandarin Centre'. The Melody Markets are held each Thursday in Chatswood Mall, Victoria Avenue and feature food and craft stalls, and live music. 'Civic Place' which includes the administrative offices of the City of Willoughby will be redeveloped to provide retail, hotel, office space and arts facilities.[7] There are a number of Chinese (including Cantonese), Vietnamese and Greek restaurants and eateries.[8] There are two hotels in Chatswood: The Mantra, near Chatswood railway station and The Sebel, near Westfield shopping centre. The Chatswood Club, located on Help Street adjacent to Pacific Highway, is a venue hall which caters to weddings, birthdays, cocktail parties, and other age-appropriate festivities. Chatswood railway station is on the North Shore Line and the Northern Line of the CityRail network. Rail services run south to the Sydney CBD and continue west to Strathfield and beyond. Rail services run north to Hornsby and peak hour services run to Gosford, Wyong and Newcastle. The recently[when?] opened Epping to Chatswood railway line connects Chatswood to Epping. Chatswood is a major bus terminus with services to Bondi Junction, Sydney, North Sydney, Mosman, Balmoral Beach, Manly, Warringah Mall/Brookvale, UTS Ku-ring-gai, Belrose, Narrabeen, Mona Vale, Eastwood, Gladesville, West Ryde, North Ryde, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, Parramatta and Dundas. An interstate bus service between Sydney and Brisbane via the North Coast stops at Chatswood. Major roads through Chatswood include the Pacific Highway, Mowbray Road, Boundary Street, Willoughby Road and Eastern Valley Way and Victoria Avenue.The latter forms a pedestrian mall for the section running through the main retail area. Wikipedia

• published: 26 Apr 2011
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