By Correspondent
1- State House was initially built in 1910 by an English architect Detmar Jellings Blow.
2- Then known as Government House, it was designed to be the residence of the Administrator of Southern Rhodesia.
3- Following Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, the Governor of Southern Rhodesia Sir Humphrey Gibbs refused to leave the building.
He continued to fly the Union Jack flag in defiance of PM Ian Smith living in the opposite Independence House.
Gibbs only left in 1969 after resigning following a vote by Rhodesians to become a republic.
4- Following independence the house was renamed “State House” and was used as the house of the President of Zimbabwe.
5- Former President Canaan Banana was the first occupant of State House post-independence.
6-The late former President Robert Mugabe followed after when Banana was removed following accusations of homosexuality.
Banana was accused of abusing his bodyguards and aides and was sentenced to a year in prison.
7-The current curfew from 6pm until 6am was introduced in 1982 after Mugabe’s residence was attacked.
It was briefly removed in 2017 but was restored again.
8- The address for State House is 8 Chancellor Avenue, Harare.
9- In 1993 the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting took place in Zimbabwe, and Queen Elisabeth was invited and stayed in the State House.
10- State was rehabilitated in 1993 and the then First Lady of Zimbabwe, late Sally Mugabe, was involved in the decisions regarding internal decoration.
