Arsenal Stadium

Arsenal Stadium has been the home ground of Arsenal Football Club since 1913. It is located in Highbury, London giving rise to its popular name Highbury.

History

The original Arsenal Stadium was built in 1913, when Woolwich Arsenal moved from their home in Plumstead, south-east London to Highbury, leasing the recreation fields of a local divinity college. Designed by renowned stadium architect Archibald Leitch, it featured a single stand on the eastern side, and the other three sides given banked terracing. However, no significant portion of Leitch's original stadium remains today, following a series of bold redevelopments during the 1930s.

Related Topics:
1913 - Plumstead - Archibald Leitch - Terracing - 1930s

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The first of these was the West Stand, designed by Claude Waterlow Ferrier and William Binnie, with a distinctive Art Deco style, which opened in 1932; at the same time, the local Tube station was renamed from Gillespie Road to Arsenal. Leitch's main stand was demolished to make way for a new East Stand matching the west one in 1936, with its distinctive facade facing onto Avenell Road. The terraces at the north and south ends were both given roofs, and the southern terrace had a clock fitted to its front, giving it the name Clock End.

Related Topics:
Claude Waterlow Ferrier - William Binnie - Art Deco - 1932 - Tube - Arsenal - 1936 - Clock

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The stadium stayed more or less the same for the next fifty years, although during World War II the North Bank terrace was bombed and had to be rebuilt. Floodlights were fitted in 1951 (having been advocated by Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman some twenty years earlier). However, in the early 1990s, the Taylor report on the Hillsborough disaster was published, which recommended that football stadiums become all-seater. The North Bank, which had become home of Arsenal's most passionate supporters, was demolished in 1992, and a new all-seater stand constructed in its place. The Clock End was retained but redeveloped, and had seating and executive boxes fitted.

Related Topics:
World War II - Floodlight - 1951 - Herbert Chapman - 1990s - Taylor report - Hillsborough disaster - 1992

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