Who built the Cottage?

Archibald Leitch

The unsung hero of Britain’s football stadia

Archibald "Archie" Leitch (27 April 1865 – 25 April 1939) was a Scottish architect, most famous for his work designing football stadia throughout United Kingdom and Ireland.

Born in Glasgow, Leitch's early work was on designing factories in his home city, with the sole survivor being the category A listed Sentinel Works at Jessie Street, Polmadie, just south of Glasgow city centre. 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 by a large mock-Tudor press box.

The double-decker 1926 Bullens Road 'MauretaniA' Stand at Goodison Parkhome of Everton FC

The Johnny Haynes stand at Craven Cottage, home of Fulham Football Club.

The Bill Struth Main Stand at Ibrox, home of Rangers Football Club.

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. In total he was commissioned to design part or all of more than 20 stadiums in the UK and Ireland between 1899 and 1939, including:

1. ■Anfield, Liverpool
   
2. ■Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, London
3. ■Ayresome Park, Middlesbrough
   
4. ■Bramall Lane, Sheffield
   
5. ■Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff
   
6. ■Celtic Park, Glasgow
   
7. ■Craven Cottage, Fulham, London
8. ■Dalymount Park, Dublin
   
9. ■Deepdale, Preston
   
10. ■The Den, New Cross, London
11. ■Dens Park, Dundee
    
12. ■The Dell, Southampton
    
13. ■Ewood Park, Blackburn
    
14. ■The Double Decker stand (The Kop), Filbert Street, Leicester
    
15. ■Fratton Park, Portsmouth
    
16. ■Goodison Park, Liverpool
    
17. ■Hampden Park, Glasgow
    
18. ■Home Park, Plymouth
    
19. ■Ibrox Park, Glasgow
    
20. ■Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield
    
21. ■Lansdowne Road, Dublin
    
22. ■Leeds Road, Huddersfield
    
23. ■Molineux, Wolverhampton
    
24. ■Old Trafford, Trafford, Greater Manchester
    
25. ■Park Avenue, Bradford
    
26. ■Roker Park, Sunderland
    
27. ■Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
    
28. ■Saltergate, Chesterfield
    
29. ■Selhurst Park, South Norwood, London
30. ■Somerset Park, Ayr
    
31. ■Stamford Bridge, Walham Green, London
32. ■Starks Park, Kirkcaldy
    
33. ■Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, London
34. ■Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh
    
35. ■Valley Parade, Bradford
    
36. ■Villa Park, Birmingham
    
37. ■West Ham Stadium, Custom House, London
38. ■White Hart Lane, Tottenham, London
39. ■Windsor Park, Belfast
    
40. 
    

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 his masterpiece, which was demolished in 2000. The main stand and pavilion at Craven Cottage, The Main Stand At Tynecastle and the facade of the Main Stand at Ibrox (although the stand itself has been remodelled) still survive to this day; all are now listed buildings. He also came up with the formula that for every one person seated, two can stand