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Great North Road, LONDON, N2 0NW

A true art deco piece

The sculpture is by Eric Aumonier (1899-1974) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Aumonier and was unveiled in July 1940. In 1929, Aumonier was commissioned, along with five others, to carve one of a set of relief sculptures of the four winds for 55 Broadway, the headquarters of London Transport above St. James's Park tube station . [The other sculptors were Eric Gill, Henry Moore, Allan G Wyon, A H Gerard and Samuel Rabinovitch; Jacob Epstein was also commissioned to carve sculptures of Day and Night – see http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=96518330 .] The figure of the archer is said to link to East Finchley's surroundings: the station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Finchley_tube_station on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_line is on the edge of the site of the Royal Forest of Enfield, where the court and commoners used to hunt. The sculpture is made of beech over a steel support, covered with lead http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/ltm-1998-86924 . The station is Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1359150 and the listing includes the archer sculpture. There is a story that there was also an arrow - at Morden station, at the far southern end of the Northern Line – but this is not true https://richardosley.com/2013/02/08/a-slice-of-history-what-happened-to-the-east-finchley-archers-arrow/ .

Shows the location of Image The original Victorian station was demolished in the 1930s. The replacement was designed in the Art Deco style by Charles Holden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Holden with LH Bucknell. For further info about the station, see the Wiki entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Finchley_tube_station . The station is Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1359150 .

See Image The archer can also be seen in Ben Brooksbank's photo from 1962 Image

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Passengers queue at the ticket office in East Finchley station to top up their Oyster Card prior to travel. Although the ticket office was open for business, no trains were running through East Finchley due to planned engineering works. A rail replacement bus service was operating to stations on the Barnet Branch of the Northern Line for the whole of the week between Christmas Day and December 30th. The paintings hanging on the wall of the ticket office are the work of a member of staff.

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A train of 1995 stock sits in the central northbound platform, its work done for the day. First trains out in the morning are usually stabled in the station over night. Behind, the 1930's beauty of East Finchley station is enhanced by the artificial lights at night.