Highbury - the old arena

The Arsenal Stadium, located in north London was the home of Arsenal FC from September 6, 1913 to May 7, 2006. The stadium went under the popular name of Highbury, as it was located in that London area. There was also the less official nickname "Home of Football", used by both the club itself and the fans from time to time. After the recent move to the new stadium, old Highbury is not being carefully redeveloped into housing, with the preservation of some of the original features and structures.

Building the arena - 1913

The construction of the original arena in 1913 was triggered by the need to move from Manor Ground in Plumstead in South East of London. The FC leased the recreation fields of the local divinity college for a sum of £20,000 and rushed through the build in the summer of 1913. The architect was Archibald Leitch, a famous football arena designer in that period. Highbury was designed with one single eastern side stand and banked terrassing on the other three sides. Cost of building was around  £130,000. The opening, with a not yet fully completed stadium, was when Arsenal played against Leicester Fosse on the 6th of September 1913 and won with 2-1. The first ever goal at Highbury was scored by Leicester's Tommy Benfield and the first ever Arsenal goal was scored by George Jobey. Arsenal eventually bought the entire title to the  site in 1925 for a grand total of £64,000.

Redeveloping the arena - major work in the 1930's

The stadium has been redeveloped several times since the early years and there is no major part left of the original Leitch design and architecture. The major developments were seen in the 1930's, starting with the construction of the West Stand (architects Claude Waterlow Ferrier and William Binnie), a fantastic Art Deco style design. The grand opening was in 1932. In the same year, the local tube station, Gillespie Road, was officially renamed "Arsenal station". The main stand of Leitch's design had to go and give way for the new East Stand which mirrored the West Stand, this was in 1936. Cost of the West Stand was £45,000 but the East Stand has serious problem keeping the budget and ended up costing about three times as much, mainly due to the heavy cost of the facade. There was eventually a roof constructed to cover the North Bank terrace and a clock was put in place on the front of the southern terrace, renaming it "the clock end".

After the 1930's frantic redevelopment, the Highbury stayed as it was for the following fifty years. There was some bomb damages to the North Bank terrace during the WW2 and it had to be rebuilt. Modern floodlights were first installed in 1951. The first floodlit match was the friendly one against Hapoel Tel Aviv in October the same year. The next big improvement was undersoil heating, put in place in 1964. Arsenal, unlike many others, refused to build up fencing at the perimeter, even when hooliganism peaked in the mid 80's. This deciscion led to the striking off of Highbury as a possible venue for the FA Cup semi-finals.

The effect of the Hillsborough catastrophe

In the 90's, folliowing the Hillsborough catastrophe, the Taylor report led to the demolishing of the North Bank and the construction of a new all-seater in 1993. A gigantic mural of cheering football fans was put in place behind the goal during this constrution, giving the teams the illusion that they were playing towards a crowd of fans rather than a building site. There was some criticism due to the non-existing black fans in the mural, but that was sorted out quickly. In 1989, there was a redevelopment including a new roof at the clock end.

Highbury was not only Arsenal's home arena; It also had it's occasional function as the home for the England matches. In the time span of 1920-1961, there were twelve international matches played in the arena, mostly friendly games. One was the famous "Battle of Highbury" in 1934 where England won over Italy. Highbury also serviced as the arena for two of the -48 London Olympics games.

Growing out of Highbury

lthough it was Arsenal's home arena for 93 years, they didn't always play their home matches there. During WW2, the stadium was bomb damaged and Arsenal played at White Hart Lane, the home ground of the mortal enemy Tottenham Hotsupr. Highbury reopened after the war in 1946. In more recent years, Arsenal played UEFA Champions League matches in 1998-1999 seasons at the Wembley Stadium instead, due to Highbury now being too small for modern football and advertising.

Highbury has also functioned as a venue for cricket and baseball as well as the main arena for the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship in 1996 when Mohammad Ali won over Henry Cooper.