Cover Story : Leitch’s Stadiums
Also in the early 1900s Leitch was involved at Celtic’s Parkhead and in 1903 with the laying out of
the third ground to bear the name Hampden Park. Eleven years later Leitch returned to Hampden
to rebuild the damaged main (south) stand that later became famous for its roof-top press box which
only disappeared in the mid-90s full scale rebuild of the Scots national football stadium.
Another press box on a stand roof. This
time it’s a double-decker at Hampden Park
Leitch’s first encroachment into English football grounds came at Sheffield United where the directors, impressed with the stands they had seen on a visit to Glasgow, employed him to design a
stand for the John Street side of Bramall Lane. This stand did sterling service for over 90 years until
finally being replaced in the mid-1990s.
News of his success in stadium building
did not take long to spread and club owners were soon beating a path to Leitch’s
door to design grounds all over England.
In 1903 he designed the new Ayresome
Park for Middlesbrough that was true to
his usual basic design of a two-tier main
stand with centre gable (this one was
arched) and three open sides with standing (although one side also had cover
moved over from their former ground).
Ayresome Park’s Leitch stand survived
right up until the ground was demolished
in 1995 when ‘Boro set the new stadium
design trend at Riverside.
6
The arched gable on the Leitch stand at Ayresome
Park. The ground was demolished in 1995.
Total Football Fanzine of the Year 2001 Special Award Winner
GT 28