Stephens Collection
A pocket museum with big local punch: the story of Dr Henry Stephens’s indelible blue-black ink, his son Henry ‘Inky’ Stephens, and the Finchley estate they shaped. Expect patent bottles, adverts, writing kits and the civic vision behind Avenue House (now Stephens House & Gardens). It’s part product lab, part neighbourhood history—perfect before or after a stroll through the grounds and water-tower. Plan 30–45 minutes for the displays, longer if you pair it with the gardens and café.
Opening Hours
What's not to miss inside?
Ink Lab & Bottles
How a Victorian formula went globalStephens’s blue-black ink solved a real problem: a deep colour that bit into paper and stayed legible.
📍 Main room cases
Avenue House Story
From private home to public goodHenry Charles Stephens turned profits into parks, water supply and a community estate.
📍 Estate & philanthropy panels
Brand & Ad Art
When packaging sold trustTrade cards and labels show how a chemist’s name became a household verb for ink.
📍 Poster wall
Water Tower Walk-out
A Victorian experiment in self-sufficiencyGardens, a bog stream and tower reflect Henry’s plan for a model estate.
📍 Grounds of Stephens House
Inspire your Friends
- Henry Charles ‘Inky’ Stephens served as MP for Finchley while running the ink firm—hence the nickname that stuck to both man and brand.
- Stephens bequeathed Avenue House and its grounds for public benefit in 1918—an early example of a North London industrialist endowing civic green space.
- Stephens’s blue-black formula was prized by clerks because it wrote blue and dried nearly black—the iron-gall chemistry literally darkened as it oxidised.
