Avenue House
Avenue House is a large Victorian house (Grade II listed) situated on East End Road in Finchley in the London Borough of Barnet.
Built in 1859 on land formerly known as Temple Croft Field, it was acquired in 1874 by ink magnate Henry Charles Stephens who enlarged and improved the house and grounds with advice from well-known landscape gardener Robert Marnock (1800-1889).
The house and ten acres of grounds are held in trust for the people of Finchley and have been run by the Avenue House Estate Management since 2002. It is also home to the Finchley Society and their archive.
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[edit] The Stephens Collection
Avenue House is home to the Stephens Collection, a small display and archive of material relating to the Stephens Ink company and Stephens family. It is open 2 pm - 4.30 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday only, is wheelchair-accessible and admission is free. Its first curator was the late Norman Burgess. The current chairman is Peter Marsh.
[edit] The Bothy
The Bothy was built as a large walled garden in the shape of a castle sometime in the late 1870s. It is one of, if not the earliest, non-Roman concrete structures in England.
A project to restore the Bothy structure and turn it into an arts centre and garden began in 1997 by the Finchley Arts Centre Trust (FACT). This was funded by local people, with money raised matched by the Heritage Lottery Fund and totalling £418,000. The project was within weeks of completion in 2007 when an acrimonious dispute between the Art Centre Trust and the Avenue House Estate Trust (AVHET) broke out which prevented the building being opened to public use. It has remained closed ever since. [1]
[edit] The park
The grounds of the estate, variously called Avenue House Estate, Avenue House Park or Avenue House Grounds, have been developed as a public park during the 20th century. They include a collection of unusual trees and shrubs.
[edit] History of the House
The first house on the site was built in 1859 by the Rev. Edward Cooper, a relative of the Allen family (Lords of the manor of Finchley) who had owned the land since the 1730s. The house takes its name from The Avenue which runs behind the house, and was originally the route between Bibbesworth manor and the church of St Mary’s Finchley. In 1874 the house was bought by the famous ink manufacturer Henry Charles Stephens. During Stephens' time in the house the grounds were laid out, to designs by Robert Marnock. The house and grounds were left to the people of Finchley by Stephens in his will in 1918. It was used for a short time by the RAF as a hospital before it became a public park on 3 May 1928. In 1989 the house was almost gutted by fire, but has largely been restored to its former condition.
Hertford Lodge, also a grade II listed building and adjacent to Avenue House, was built in the 1860s. It was a girls' school for many years before becoming Finchley council offices. In 2001 the owners (London Borough of Barnet) decided to sell the building. Late in 2004 it was damaged by fire but was refurbished and redeveloped (2006-7) into private luxury flats (apartments).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Bothy dispute: Bill Tyler speaks By Daphne Chamberlain , The Archer , August 2007, Accessed Jan 2012
