It was constructed between 1914 and 1919 to link Beach Road to Symonds Street, and was named as a memorial to the troops who died in the Gallipoli campaign.

[1] Anzac Avenue and neighbouring Beach Road follow the shape of the original shoreline of the Auckland waterfront, leading from Symonds Street towards the Point Britomart headland, passing alongside Official Bay and Mechanics Bay.

[2] In the 1740s, the Waiōhua settlement at Te Hororoa was one of the final to fall during Waiohua's defeat to Ngāti Whātua.

[4] Anzac Avenue, which started construction in 1914,[1] followed the route of Jermyn Street, but was renamed in 1916 to form a memorial to those who had died at Gallipoli, overriding a recommendation to call it Jellicoe Street.

[6] A commemoration of the construction of the road was held in 1918, where the Governor-General, Arthur Foljambe, planted two pūriri trees at the corner of Anzac Avenue and Waterloo Quadrant, and a score of trees were planted by others.

[9] The statistical area of Anzac Avenue, which is bounded by Beach Road, Parliament Street, Waterloo Quadrant, Princes Street and Emily Place, covers 0.10 km2 (0.039 sq mi)[10] and had an estimated population of 3,170 as of June 2024,[11] with a population density of 31,700 people per km2.