Mount Pleasant is a residential suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe, located in the northern part of the city. Originally a farm, the area was developed for housing in the early 20th-century and was a white suburb until Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. Today, Mount Pleasant is a multiracial community and is one of Harare's more affluent suburbs.
Mount Pleasant contains a number of shopping centres and businesses. The suburb is home to three secondary schools and five primary schools. The University of Zimbabwe, the oldest and top-ranked university in Zimbabwe, is located in Mount Pleasant, as are Zimbabwe Open University and Arrupe Jesuit University. There are two athletic clubs in Mount Pleasant, the Old Georgians Sports Club and Mount Pleasant Sports Club. The area is represented in Parliament by the Mount Pleasant constituency. Mount Pleasant is bordered by the Avondale West, Vainona, Emerald Hill, Belgravia, and Marlborough suburbs.
History
Mount Pleasant was originally a farm, also named Mount Pleasant, until it was developed for residential housing beginning in 1902.Little is known about the genesis of Farm No 10, which was called Mount Pleasant, as the original owner is not known. John Kiddle sold it to Mollie Colenbrander for £100 after owning it for just five days. However, because of water issues, no development took place until 1902 when it was acquired by the Cape Town property developer and recent immigrant Alfred Blackburn, who also acquired and subdivided Avondale, and developed both areas into residential subdivisions. By the end of the Second World War, Mount Pleasant had become an extremely desirable place to live and was forever changed by the opening of the University of Zimbabwe in 1953.
Geography
Mount Pleasant is located in the northern part of Harare, and is bordered by the Vainona, Pomona, Emerald Hill, Belgravia, and Marlborough suburbs. From the postwar era to the 1980s, generations of wealthy residents built dozens of stately homes in the area in various styles, including Beaux-Arts architecture, Edwardian, Cape Dutch and post-war modern styles. Along with their homes, the university added much to the vibrancy of the neighbourhood, with bookstores, cafes, restaurants and other amenities creating a bohemian, academic atmosphere, distinguishing it from the quieter suburban enclaves of wealthy families to its North East and the gritty CBD. Other than the homes, landmarks include the Arundel Village and the campus of the University of Zimbabwe. The Mount Pleasant branch of the Harare Library serves the greater area.
The neighborhood is well preserved and maintained, however some of the historic homes have been torn down, renovated into businesses, or transferred to institutional use. The northern part of the neighborhood is dominated by the University of Zimbabwe. In the post-war years the area was home to affluent Anglo-African families evidenced by churches such as All Souls Anglican Church on Westcott Rd and Northside Community Church on Edinburgh Ave. Today the population is more diverse, albeit with a plurality of upper middle class as the wealthiest former inhabitants moved further eastward to Glen Lorne and Borrowdale or emigrated entirely. Left behind were mostly middle-class white Zimbabweans, and a mix of incoming Shona and Indian Zimbabweans along with a transient expatriate population. Today, upper middle-income Zimbabweans of various ethnicities form a majority of the population.
Economy
Mount Pleasant also contains a number of office parks and shopping centres, notably Arundel Office Park, Arundel Village Shopping Centre, The Bridge Shopping Centre, Bond Shopping Centre and Pendennis Shopping Centre. The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council is also headquartered in Mount Pleasant. It also houses the Agriculture and Research Trust (ART) Farm, which engages in research and development of agricultural practices. Mount Pleasant Business Park is home to a number of businesses, including the headquarters of the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.