Finchley is an Anglo Saxon name meaning “Wood frequented by finches”. Finchley was mainly common land, and Finchley Common was particularly notorious for highwayman in the 18th century. In the 19th century, some large houses with estates were built there. When the Great Northern Railway put a line through the area - now part of the Northern line - in 1867, Finchley quickly became part of the general development of north London for residential housing.

Finchley is a prosperous suburb, but with the emphasis mainly on flats - in new apartment blocks or converted houses. East Finchley is on the London side of the North Circular Road but there are large houses to be found in the streets around Fortis Green. Further west, the streets near Cherry Tree Wood have smaller properties from the 1930s onwards, such as Summerlee Avenue and Park Hall Road. Just north of Fortis Green Road there are a number of streets named after English towns, such as Hertford Bedford and Huntingdon, which have rows of Edwardian cottages. Further to the north, from Crichton Avenue there are much bigger detached houses. On the other side of the High Road there small houses, and some blocks of flats. Church Lane crosses the rail line towards East End Road with some more residential streets. Over the East End Road, the properties here are close to Hampstead Garden Suburb and there are some very large and grand houses in streets like Bancroft Avenue and Abbots Gardens.

North Finchley begins north of the North Circular Road. The streets above Woodhouse Road contain a mixture of houses of different sizes and periods, many converted into flats. Torrington Park and Friern Park are the main streets. The streets approaching the golf course, such as Mayfield Avenue and Ravensdale Avenue contain mainly family houses. On the other side of the High Road, there are 1920s terraces and large detached houses.

Between Dollis Brook and Folly Brook are streets such as Southover and Northiam which are very sought after areas with large detached and semi-detached houses and gardens. Further west is Woodside Park, a fairly green area by Finchley standards, and this contains mansion blocks as well as family homes. Woodside Park is on the other side of the train line, but being nearer the Park itself, the houses on the west side tend to be more desirable. Between the golf course and Woodside Park is the Woodside Park garden suburb, which was created in the 1930s and contains attractive houses, mainly semi-detached, in a well laid out garden environment. Other very desirable streets in the neighbourhood of Lullington Garth and Chanctonbury Way. Church End is further south, over Dollis Road. This contains the largest houses and the widest streets, such as Hendon Avenue. There are blocks of flats along Hendon Lane. There is still a functioning farm between Fitzalan Road and Allendale Avenue. Finchley Central describes the area around Ballard’s Lane. There are rows of terraced houses mainly converted into flats. Also there are purpose-built blocks such as Finchley Court.