The New Wembley Stadium, renowned worldwide as the home of football, sits on the site of Sir Edward Watkin's Folly, a Victorian tourist attraction built in 1895.
The new Wembley Stadium is impressive to say the least! The sight of the Wembley Arch, especially when lit up at night, simply takes your breath away.
Wembley Park enjoyed an extensive network of pleasure gardens, tea houses, athletic tracks and sporting facilities as long ago as the 1880s. The area was put on the London map by Edward Watkin, later Sir Edward, Chairman of the Metropolitan Railway.
By the 1880s the Metropolitan Railway, now the Metropolitan Line on the London Underground system, had reached Wembley Park with a brand new modern station. In 1895 Sir Edward, seeing the need to attract people to the railway, decided to construct a major tourist attraction close to the station.
Sir Edward had recently been to the Exhibition of France and was inspired by the Eiffel Tower. The Tower stood at nearly 900 feet height but Watkin planned an even taller tower and he hoped Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower, would design it.
When Eiffel refused the commission Watkin organised a competition inviting architects from all over the world to submit designs. Not surprisingly, many of the designs looked just like the Eiffel Tower.
The design contract was awarded to Sir Benjamin Baker, designer of the Forth Bridge in Scotland. He planned an eight-legged tower with two platforms standing 1200 feet high. Theatres, restaurants, dance halls, exhibition areas and even Turkish baths would occupy the platforms.
Construction started in 1893 but in order to cut costs the tower now had only four legs. The first stage, standing 61 metres, opened in 1896.
Initially, the tower attracted large numbers of visitors but they were soon disappointed as work on the tower ceased. Poor surveying had failed to reveal that the land was marshy and it wasn't long before the foundations started to move! The bankrupt project was abandoned and demolition of the tower, now known as Watkin's Folly, started in 1904. (The resulting 2,700 tons of scrap steel were exported to Italy.)
Wembley Park was still destined for fame and fortune. The British Empire Exhibition, with Wembley Stadium at its centre, was opened by King George V on 23 April 1923, on the site of Watkin's Folly.
The Empire Stadium
The first Wembley Stadium was called the Empire Stadium. Constructors used 25,000 tons of concrete, 1000 tons of steel and more than a million rivets. It took only 300 days to construct and cost £750.000. More than 4,500,000 visitors came to see the Stadium or take part in sporting events.
The first event held at the Empire Stadium was the "White Horse Cup Final" of 1923. The stadium hosted the opening ceremony of the 1948 Olympic Games. The track and field events as well as football and hockey matches took place at Wembley. The old Wembley will always be remembered for the final of the World Cup in 1966 especially as England won 4-2!
The stadium changed very little over the next 75 years but by the turn of the century it was outdated and failing to meet the needs of modern-day sports enthusiasts.
The New Wembley Stadium
The New Wembley Stadium has risen from the rubble of the old. 90,000cubic metres of concrete and 23,000 tons of steel have gone into its construction. The iconic steel Arch, nearly140 metres at its highest point, can be seen for miles around and is more than four times the height of Wembley Stadium's original Twin Towers. The Arch, with a diameter of 7.4 metres, is wide enough for a Channel Tunnel train to run through it with room to spare.
For visitors the really important features are the uninterrupted views from all 90,000 seats, 60 bars, 41 food outlets, 2,618 toilets and if the excitement is just too much there are 20 first aid rooms!
