Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 09/02/2016

TQ 2590
31/18/10378

EAST END ROAD
Finchley

Avenue House

GV
II
Italianate villa, circa 1859, much extended and refurbished by Henry Charles Stephens heir to the Stephens Ink Company after 1874 and probably c1884. Stuccoed with slate roof and tall brick chimneystacks with acroteria. Roughly L-shaped. South front of three storeys ; 6 windows, sashes mainly without glazing bars and with cornices. Bracket eaves cornice. Circa 1884 porch and ground floor rooms built out. East wing of c1884 is of stone of two storeys and comprised "Inky Stephens" laboratory and bedroom on first floor and reception rooms on ground floor. First floor has two mullioned and transomed windows in gables including splayed gable to north corner with cartouche and motto "REGNANT QUI SERVANT". Four similar ground floor windows. North front incorporates elements of 1859 building but with later curved window, a four storey tower with hipped roof, a wing with splayed bay and Norman arched doorcase and
two storey link block with interlaced Norman traceried window and Norman-arched doorcase with corbel heads to octagonal tower.
INTERIOR: despite the loss of the interior of the first floor laboratory and ground floor room below in a fire of 1989, many original features remain. Well staircase with acorn finials and panelled balustrading. Round-headed arches to hall, built-in carved bench and display cabinets. Dining Room has fireplace with engaged columns, triglyph and paterae frieze and panelling with dado rail. Fanlight with stained glass and roundel depicting players of church bells and organ in mediaeval dress. Conservatory has museum to Stephens ink factory and history of the estate. Gilded ceiling. Ground floor room has fireplace with round-headed overmantel, engaged fluted columns and ceiling beams. Upper floors have several fireplaces including fireplace with blue and white Wedgwood tiles and poem. Built in table for tray. Turret Smoking Room with stencilling and stone fireplace with wooden overmantel.

Listing NGR: TQ2510890201

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Avenue House at Wikipedia
• Avenue House official website
• Wikidata Q4828200

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)