The Arsenal Stadium, better known as Highbury, was the home of Arsenal for 93 years.
Highbury was originally built in 1913 but the ground we all became familiar with started taking shape in the 1930s. This is when the famous art deco design was built into the East Stand’s exterior facade and the clock was installed in what became known as the Clock End at the southern end of Highbury. Seats were installed in the Clock End in 1993 to keep up with safety regulations.
The North Bank was a terrace for the home fans right up until it was demolished to make way for a new two-tier all-seated stand that opened in August of 1993. The West Stand was another double-tiered stand that mirrored the East Stand in appearance.
Highbury was unique amongst top-flight stadiums in the fact that all four stands remained separated from each other right up to the closure of the ground. Another unique fact regarding Highbury was that there was never any fencing put up around the perimeter of the ground to keep fans from running onto the pitch. Even at the height of the hooligan problem in England, Arsenal maintained this stance.
The record attendance at Highbury was for a match against Sunderland in March 1935, when a crowd of 73,295 watched as the two teams battled to a 0-0 stalemate in a first division fixture.
By the time the stadium was closed down, the capacity was 38,419.
The final game at Highbury took place on 7th May 2006, as Arsenal defeated Wigan Athletic to secure a place in the following season’s Champions League. Fittingly, it was club legend Thierry Henry who scored the last competitive goal at the famous old stadium.
Highbury was demolished in 2006.