Stephens Collection

Stephens Collection
#79

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.

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Opening Hours

Sunday: 08:00 – 18:00
Monday: 08:00 – 18:00
Tuesday: 08:00 – 18:00
Wednesday: 08:00 – 18:00
Thursday: 08:00 – 18:00
Friday: 08:00 – 18:00
Saturday: 08:00 – 18:00

What's not to miss inside?

Ink Lab & Bottles

How a Victorian formula went global

Stephens’s blue-black ink solved a real problem: a deep colour that bit into paper and stayed legible.

Find three bottle shapes and guess their era from the closures—cork, screw, safety cap.

📍 Main room cases

Avenue House Story

From private home to public good

Henry Charles Stephens turned profits into parks, water supply and a community estate.

Note one civic feature on the map, then go outside and find its remains or route.

📍 Estate & philanthropy panels

Brand & Ad Art

When packaging sold trust

Trade cards and labels show how a chemist’s name became a household verb for ink.

Spot three ‘proof’ claims (indelible, copiable, permanent) and how each is visualised.

📍 Poster wall

Water Tower Walk-out

A Victorian experiment in self-sufficiency

Gardens, a bog stream and tower reflect Henry’s plan for a model estate.

Trace the water course from bog garden to pond—gravity as landscape design.

📍 Grounds of Stephens House

🤓 Fun Facts

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.

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