Coordinates: 53°45′31″N 0°21′57″W / 53.758643°N 0.365813°W
The Avenues is an area of high status Victorian housing located in the north-west of Kingston upon Hull, England. It is formed by four main tree-lined straight avenues running west off the north-north-east/south-south-west 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'. To the adjoining south of the Avenues is an area of roughly contemporary Victorian terraces, with streets named after the seats of nobles; it is sometimes referred to as the Dukeries.
Whilst primarily housing the area hosted the Industrial School for Girls from 1888 to 1919 on Park Avenue, the building afterwards used for other educational purposes, now known as the Avenues Centre.
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.
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 (Princes Avenue), and the parallel Derringham Dike to the east; Setting Dyke to the north; Spring Bank and Spring and Derringham Dikes to the south; and to the west a field boundary between Newland Tofts and Ewe lands and Chanter Lands which eventually became Chanterlands Avenue. To the south the area was limited by the new (1847) General Cemetery built on the northern side of Derringham Bank (Spring Bank West).
The estate was formally opened in 1875 by the developer David Parkinson Garbutt; 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. The site was laid out on a generous scale for the middle and prosperous classes; the largest street; Westbourne Avenue was 59 feet (18 m) wide.