Arsenal Stadium is a former football stadium in North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It is popularly known as Highbury, given its location in the area of London of the same name. The stadium was given the nickname “The Home of Football”, both by fans[1] and the club.[2]
At the time of its closure, the stadium had a capacity of 38,419[3] (approximately 12,500 in the North Bank, 11,000 in the West Stand, 9,000 in the East Stand and 6,000 in the Clock End), all seated, and had two Jumbotron screens in the South-East and North-West corners. The stadium’s main entrances were on Gillespie Road, Avenell Road and Highbury Hill. Before the all-seater era, Arsenal Stadium often saw crowds of up to 60,000 or more; its largest attendance ever was 73,295 in 1935 when Arsenal played Sunderland.
The 2005-06 season was Arsenal’s last at Highbury, with their Premiership swan song on 7 May against Wigan Athletic finishing in a 4-2 win, with their all-time leading goal scorer, Thierry Henry, getting a hat trick. The club moved in the close season to the new Emirates Stadium nearby.
History
The original Arsenal Stadium was built in 1913, when Woolwich Arsenal moved from the Manor Ground in Plumstead, South East London to Highbury, leasing the recreation fields of a local divinity college. The stadium was rather hurriedly built over the summer of that year; designed by renowned stadium architect Archibald Leitch, it featured a single stand on the eastern side, and the other three sides had banked terracing. In all the new stadium cost £125,000 at the time. It opened with Arsenal’s first match of the 1913-14 season, a 2-1 Second Division win against Leicester Fosse on September 6, 1913; Leicester’s Tommy Benfield scored the first goal at the new ground, while George Jobey was the first Arsenal player to do so.[4]
No significant portion of Leitch’s original stadium remains today, following a series of bold redevelopments during the 1930s. 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; the same year, on November 5, 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 West Stand cost £45,000 while the East Stand went far over budget and ended up costing £130,000, mainly thanks to the expense of the facade.[5] The North Bank terrace was given a roof, and the southern terrace had a clock fitted to its front, giving it the name “The Clock End.”
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 (the roof was not restored until 1956). Floodlights were fitted in 1951 (having been advocated by Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman some twenty years earlier), with the first ever floodlit match being a friendly against Hapoel Tel Aviv on October 17 of that year.
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. During the work, a giant mural of cheering fans was placed behind the goal at that end, to give the illusion that the players were kicking towards a crowd rather than empty terraces and rubble. The mural initially attracted criticism for its absence of black fans and was quickly rectified.[6] The Clock End was retained but redeveloped, and had a roof, seating and executive boxes fitted.
Pitch
Arsenal Stadium was well known for its very small (110×73 yards / 101×67 metres) but immaculately-kept pitch, which also had under-soil heating. Arsenal’s groundsmen, Steve Braddock and his successor Paul Burgess, have won the FA Premier League’s Groundsman of the Year award several times for their work on the pitch.[7]
Redevelopment
Arsenal left the Arsenal Stadium when Emirates Stadium in nearby Ashburton Grove was opened in July 2006. Arsenal Stadium will be redeveloped and converted into apartments, in a project known as “Highbury Square”. The North Bank and Clock End stands will be demolished, with the famous clock having already been moved to the new stadium; however, the exteriors of the East Stand, which is a Grade II listed building,[8] and the matching West Stand, will be preserved and incorporated into the new developments. The pitch will become a communal garden.
In June 2005 Arsenal received planning consent for a revised scheme which will see 711 properties built on the site. In October 2005 the proposed apartments went on sale; as of May 2006 all properties in the North, East and West Stands had been taken. The converted apartments are expected to be ready by 2010.
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