Avenue House

Avenue House is an Italianate villa, dating from approximately 1859, which was significantly extended and refurbished by Henry Charles Stephens, heir to the Stephens Ink Company, after 1874 and probably around 1884. The house is stuccoed with a slate roof and tall brick chimneystacks topped with acroteria. It has a roughly L-shaped layout.

The south front is three storeys high, with six windows, mostly sashes without glazing bars, and a bracketed eaves cornice. A porch and ground floor rooms were built out, dating from around 1884. An east wing, also dating from around 1884, is constructed of stone and contains a "Inky Stephens" laboratory and bedroom on the first floor, and reception rooms on the ground floor. The first floor features two mullioned and transomed windows within gables, including a splayed gable to the north corner, displaying a cartouche and motto "REGNANT QUI SERVANT". Four similar windows are found on the ground floor.

The north front incorporates elements of the original 1859 building, but includes a later curved window, a four-storey tower with a hipped roof, a wing with a splayed bay, and a Norman arched doorcase. A two-storey link block features an interlaced Norman traceried window and a Norman arched doorcase with corbel heads leading to an octagonal tower.

Despite a fire in 1989 which destroyed the interior of the first-floor laboratory and the ground floor room beneath, many original features remain. These include a staircase with acorn finials and panelled balustrading, round-headed arches to the hall, a built-in carved bench, and display cabinets. The dining room has a fireplace with engaged columns, a triglyph and paterae frieze, and panelling with a dado rail. A fanlight contains stained glass depicting players of church bells and an organ in mediaeval dress. A conservatory houses a museum dedicated to the Stephens ink factory and the history of the estate, and has a gilded ceiling. One ground floor room has a fireplace with a round-headed overmantel, engaged fluted columns, and stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops. Upper floors contain several fireplaces, including one with blue and white Wedgwood tiles and a poem, along with a built-in table for a tray. A turret smoking room has stencilling and a stone fireplace with a wooden overmantel.