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| Archibald Leitch | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Archibald Leitch |
| Nationality | Scotland |
| Birth date | 27 April 1865 |
| Birth place | Glasgow |
| Date of death | 25 April 1939 |
| Work | |
| Significant buildings | |
| Significant projects | Ibrox, Goodison Park |
Archibald "Archie" Leitch (27 April 1865 – 25 April 1939) was a Scottish architect, most famous for his work designing football stadiums throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Born in Glasgow, Leitch's early work was on designing factories in his home city, with the sole survivor being the Sentinel Works at Jessie Street, Polmadie (Grade A Listed). He moved into stadium design when he was commissioned to build Ibrox Park, the new home ground of Rangers, in 1899. Leitch's stadiums were initially considered functional rather than aesthetically elegant, and were clearly influenced by his early work on industrial buildings. Typically, his stands had two tiers, with criss-crossed steel balustrades at the front of the upper tier, and were covered by a series of pitched roofs, built so that their ends faced onto the playing field; the central roof span would be distinctly larger, and would incorporate a distinctive pediment.
His first project in England was the design and building of the John Street Stand at Bramall Lane, which provided 3,000 seats and terracing for 6,000 and was dominated a large mock-Tudor press box. In total he built 29 English and Scottish Football League grounds between 1899 and 1939.
Even after the Ibrox disaster of 1902, when 26 people were killed when a bank of terracing collapsed, Leitch was still in demand. Over the next four decades he became Britain's foremost football architect, and he was commissioned to design part or all of over 20 major stadiums, including:
- Anfield, Liverpool
- Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough
- Bramall Lane, Sheffield
- Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff
- Celtic Park, Glasgow
- Craven Cottage, West London
- Dalymount Park, Dublin
- The Den, South London
- Dens Park, Dundee
- The Dell, Southampton
- Ewood Park, Blackburn
- Fratton Park, Portsmouth
- Goodison Park, Liverpool
- Hampden Park, Glasgow
- Home Park, Plymouth
- Ibrox Park, Glasgow
- Highbury, North London
- Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield
- Lansdowne Road, Dublin
- Leeds Road, Huddersfield
- Maine Road, Manchester
- Molineux,Wolverhampton
- Old Trafford, Manchester
- Park Avenue, Bradford
- Roker Park, Sunderland
- Selhurst Park, London
- Stamford Bridge, West London
- Starks Park, Kirkcaldy
- Twickenham Stadium, London
- Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
- Valley Parade, Bradford
- Villa Park, Birmingham
- West Ham Stadium, East London
- White Hart Lane, London
- Windsor Park, Belfast
Many of his works have since been demolished for redevelopment (especially in wake of the Taylor Report and the move to all-seater stadiums), most notably the Trinity Road Stand at Villa Park, considered one of his best works, which was demolished in 2000. The main stand and pavilion at Craven Cottage, and the facade of the Main Stand at Ibrox (although the stand itself has been remodelled) still survive to this day; both are now listed buildings. He also came up with the formula that for every one person seated, two can stand.
Further reading
- Inglis, Simon (2005). Engineering Archie: Archibald Leitch - Football Ground Designer. English Heritage. ISBN 1-85074-918-3.
- Whitehead, Richard (2005-04-18). "Man who built his place in history", The Times.
External links
- Explore Glasgow - All round the city Features architectural elevations of all Leitch's stadiums in Glasgow.
