Classicism and Early Twentieth Century

American Football Stadia

Thomas M. Shelby

Main entrance, Ohio Stadium (1922)

Paper for ARCH 8822

American Academic Architecture
Spring 2009

Classicism and Early Twentieth Century

American Football Stadia
Thomas M. Shelby
Stadium, as both a word and a building, has become a ubiquitous part of our
society. We all know what the word suggests, and we all know what a stadium looks
like. Or do we truly know what a stadium looks like (i.e. the faade), other than just
images of a cavernous space filled with tiers of seats? A stadium can, and does, reflect
either collegiate or civic pride, establishes identity, and serves as a focal point in the
landscape, again whether it is urban or on campus, as they are usually the largest
structures around. And because of their cost, their size and elaboration reflects the
communitys relative wealth, and expresses the importance of sport within society. Few
other civic monuments have the power to evoke such collective memories. Thus the
history of the stadium is a unique and interesting one, encompassing architecture,
engineering, history, classical studies, and sociology. This paper explores the emergence
of this old building type in America, suited for modern American needs, during the first
few decades of the 20th century, and focuses particularly on the examples that drew upon
classical antecedents to show the richness of the designs of what is often considered
simply a utilitarian structure.
The Stadium as a New Building Type in Early 20th Century America
During the 19th century most grandstands, bleacher stands, and ballparks were
built of wood, making them easily susceptible to fire, and consequently, spectator deaths.
At the turn of the 20th century though the idea of permanent grandstands was coming to
the fore, and in 1903, Harvard University built the first steel and concrete stadium in the
country. Over the next three decades the football stadium appeared on university

campuses and cities throughout the country at a rapid pace. But it was only with the
convergence of several factors that would make the American football stadium possible.
The basics are outlined here, the details and remainder of the story are for another paper.
The first of these factors is structural. The development of steel, refinement of
Portland cement, and the use of reinforced concrete, the same factors that made the
skyscraper possible, also made the large-scale stadium possible. The second factor is the
codification of sports such as baseball and football (thanks in part to the importation of
lawn grasses) and their ever-increasing popularity among the masses and college students
and alumni. Baseball, a uniquely American game, developed over the course of the 19th
century. Many of the early ballparks recalled Americas agrarian roots, and were given
such pastoral names as Polo Grounds, Fenway Park, and Ebbets Field. Due to the unique
nature of the game, ballparks had to be built in a corresponding configuration (often
called boomerang), and were inserted within a congested urban environment. The first
permanent ballpark was Shibe Park in Philadelphia, completed in 1909. It was also the
first ballpark, and one of the few, to be finished in a high stylein this case an elegant
Beaux-Arts faaderather than the more spartan and utilitarian designs that
characterized many ballparks. It was not until the completion of Yankee Stadium in 1923
that the word stadium began to be used in association with baseball. 1
The game of football emerged during the latter part of the 19th century. Initially
resembling something more akin to soccer, the first intercollegiate football game
occurred between Rutgers and Princeton on 6 November 1869. From this beginning,
more schools began playing each other in football, mostly Ivy League schools. By the

Benjamin G. Rader, American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports (Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004), Chapter 10, passim.

Shibe Park, Philadelphia (1909).

Yankee Stadium, New York City (1923).

1880s football was being played by schools in the Midwest and South and by the 1890s
the Southwest and West Coast. Bitter rivalries developed, as did the pageantry with
marching bands, tailgate parties, bonfires, cheerleaders, fight songs, and mascots.
Wooden grandstands were built to accommodate the increasing number of spectators,
which came to include not only students but alumni and the local townspeople. Wealthy
alumni and benefactors contributed to their schools, and for that matter, intercollegiate
athletics became profitable. As stated earlier, Harvard became the first university to erect
a permanent stadium. Interestingly, the timing of this construction had profound
implications on the history of the game itself. At the time it was a very violent game, and
serious injuries, and even deaths, occurred. In 1905 there were eighteen fatalities and
159 serious injuries, and President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to shut down the game
unless changes were made. Among the games leaders was Walter Camp, a Yale man,
who suggested to significantly widen the field of play. Charles Eliot, president of
Harvard, objected, having just spent a large sum of money to construct a new stadium. If
this suggestion had been adopted, Harvards new stadium would have been obsolete
within three years. As an alternative, Eliot allied himself with John Heisman, who had
been trying to get the forward pass instituted, and Navy coach Paul Dashiell, forming a
coalition that, in 1906, instituted the forward pass. Thus the game was dramatically
changed, and the structure of the gridiron was established. Other schools then followed
Harvards lead, and a boon of stadia construction continued into the early 1930s. 2

Richard Whittingham, Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football (New York: The Free Press, 2001),
xii; David J. Warner, Football History 101: How the Stadium Shaped the Game electronic document,
http://ncaafb.beta.fanhouse.com/2006/10/21/football-history-101-how-the-stadium-shaped-the-game/,
accessed January 8, 2009.

The Search for Precedents

The need for a permanent setting or venue for American spectator sports
presented a new problem for architects-one that would involve the resurrection of an
ancient building type. What would architects reference as a precedent to solve their
contemporary needs? Large-scale sporting venues can certainly be considered one of the
great historic building types, with their greatest expression and articulation among the
stadia and hippodromes of ancient Greece and the amphitheaters and circuses of ancient
Rome. Not until the early 20th century would these building types again become so
pervasive and emblematic of a society. Thus these building from the ancient Classical
world would serve as the prototypes for the modern stadia being designed and developed
in America and Europe, but following a distinct path from the other. In America the
stylistic choice was also a given, since Beaux-Arts Classicism was the prevailing taste.
Thus both form and style would be derived from antiquity, the foundations of Western
Civilization, and coming not long after the 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition (Harvard
Stadium was built in 1903), the symbolic link was clear. Although it is beyond the scope
of this paper to trace the development of these ancient building types, it is nonetheless
informative to briefly review and note the salient points regarding these antecedents.
Ancient Greece
Three building types found in ancient Greece, used for housing large numbers of
spectators for an event, consists of the theatre, stadia, and the hippodrome. Although not
utilized for the staging of heroic sporting events and spectacles, theatres nonetheless
would greatly influence the design of 20th century stadia. Greek theatres consisted of two
parts: the orchestra, the flat, often circular, area where the drama was staged, and the

auditorium (the theatron), a natural slope for spectators. During the 4th century B.C.
Greek theatres appear to have assumed their more definitive form of stone benches that
rose in tiers upon a hillside and accessed by stairways that radiated from the orchestra.
For larger theatres, horizontal passages were provided for additional ease of access. In
plan, the auditorium was semi-circular, and in some cases seating banks, drawn on a
slightly greater radius, extended beyond either end. The hillside upon which the theatre
was situated had been modified through excavation, embankments, and retaining walls as
needed. Theatres were found in most Greek cities; perhaps the greatest, in terms of
design perfection, is at Epidaurus. Attributed to Polykleitos (the Younger), it was built in
the late 4th century and can seat some 14,000 spectators. The Theater of Dionysos
Eleutherios, located against the south side of the Acropolis, was built by Lykcurgos circa.
338-326 B.C., and can seat some 17,500. 3
Athletics and sporting competitions played a major role in ancient Greek society,
with its discipline and sacrifice considered as training, especially for war. Central to
ancient Greek athletics was the physical struggle of an individual over an opponent, thus
sporting competitions did not include team sports. Victory ensured glory to the athletes
family, and later, state. It appears that these earliest athletic competitions were associated
with religious rites and, by the 5th century B.C., festivals, held in honor of a hero or a
god, as they were held within or immediately adjacent (and connected) to a sanctuary.
By the Late Classical and Hellenistic period it seems that the religious association
decreased in importance and the events were moved outside of sanctuary precincts to
accommodate the increasing number of spectators. Athletic contests such as the various
3

Richard Allan Tomlinson, Theatres in The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization, ed. Simon
Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 709-710; Peter Levi,
Atlas of Ancient Greece (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1984), 146-149, 164-165.

footraces, boxing, wrestling, and the pentathlon were held within a building type called
the stadion, while equestrian events such as chariot racing was held in the hippodrome.
The four major games, the Olympian (venue: Olympia), Pythian (venue: Delphi),
Nemean (venue: Nemea), and Isthmian (venue: Corinth), would eventually give rise to
the modern Olympic games. 4
Just as the Greek theatre consisted of two parts that came to be referred to entirely
as the theatre, so too does the Greek stadium. The dromos refers to the flat racecourse
(either with or without provisions for spectators), whereas the stadion, loosely translated
as the standing place, refers to the embanked area for spectators; eventually the stadium
would refer to both parts. One of the earliest structures defined as a stadion was found
within the sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia, consisting simply of a starting gate and an
artificial embankment to one side. Another Archaic stadion has been defined at Olympia
as well. By the 5th century B.C. well-defined stadia have been documented at Isthmia,
Halieis, and Olympia, and it appears that by that time the basic structural form had been
established, with artificial embankments to either one or both sides of the dromos, the
ends of which were defined by stone starting lines, and holes for turning posts. A stone
curb and water channel separated the dromos from the spectators, who stood during the
games; seats were only provided for judges and important officials. The ends of the
stadion could be either open or enclosed, and in the case of the latter could be either

Stephen J. Instone, Athletics in The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization, ed. Simon
Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 97-98; Levi, Atlas of
Ancient Greece, 88-89; David Gilman Romano, Athletics and Mathematics in Archaic Corinth: The
Origins of the Greek Stadion (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1993), Introduction, passim.

curved or squared. In general, Greek stadia were in the form of a rectangle, measuring
approximately 200 yards long by 25 to 40 yards wide. 5
The stadion at the venerated site of Olympia is, of course, the most well known of
these. Located in the northwestern Peloponnese, Olympia was a religious sanctuary, at
the center of which was the sanctuary of Zeus (the Altis) containing the Temple of Zeus
and the Temple of Hera, and the site of the greatest of the four crown competitions
(Olympics, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean) and their festivals, reflecting the intimate
connection between religion and athletics.. The Olympia stadion one sees today, built
around 340 B.C., is the third such structure built at the site; it is located just outside of the
sacred precinct (the other two were partially located within it). A sloped, earthen
embankment, contained by retaining walls, surrounds the dromos on all four sides,
forming a long rectangle, and a vaulted passageway, a later 2nd century B.C. addition,
leads from the northwest corner of the dromos, underneath the stands, to the sacred
precinct between the north end of the Echo Stoa and the Treasury Terrace, marked by a
gate of Corinthian columns. Estimated capacity of the third stadion (Olympia III) is
approximately 43,000. 6
In addition to the crown competitions, whose prizes were prestige and an olive
branch crown, there were other organized games throughout ancient Greece that awarded
money or other prizes. The best known of these were the Panathenaia, held in Athens,
which like many other Panhellenic contests, grew in popularity in the 6th century B.C.
By the late 4th century, new and larger athletic facilities were needed, and among these

Romano, Introduction: passim; H.A. Harris, Sport in Greece and Rome (Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
1972), 18.
6
Stephen G. Miller, Ancient Greek Athletics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 87-95; Romano,
22.

new projects was the Panathenaic Stadium. Built by Lycurgos, who was responsible for
many monuments of Athens, all of which were to reinforce the glory of Periclean Athens,
the stadium originally had embankments for some 50,000 spectators. The size of this
construction reflects, along with its associated vaulted tunnel and dressing rooms and
other facilities, the proto-Hellenistic and Hellenistic trend towards larger and more
elaborate facilities. In use for hundreds of years and a great civic structure (in terms of
both size and for Athenian identity), the stadium was refinished completely in white
marble, including the seats, by Herodes Atticus, a wealthy Athenian patron, between
A.D. 140 and 144. In the 1890s it was the subject of excavations by German
archaeologists, and completely restored for the 1896 Olympic Games, inaugurating the
modern Olympic movement. The stadium as it stands today is configured in the shape of
a U with a curved end and straight sides. This stadium, or rather the reconstructed
Olympic Stadium, would become an influential precedent for American stadia. 7
Equestrian events such as chariot racing were staged in the hippodrome,
presumably longer than a stadion; unfortunately, we have little information regarding the
hippodrome, such as length and the general arrangement for spectators, as much of the
evidence, both archaeological and from the literature, is fragmentary. There would be a
starting gate, described by the 2nd century A.D. traveler Pausanias as being staggered and
not uniform, and a turn post. There was no central dividing wall to separate the two
directions, and it is well known from the literature that head-on crashes were common. 8

Miller, 137; Donald G. Kyle, Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World (Malden, MA: Blackwell
Publishing, 2007), 168-170.
8
Miller, 75-82.

10

Olympia III Stadion, Olympia, Greece (c. 340 B.C.).

Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, Greece (late 4th century B.C., late 2nd century A.D., 1896).

11

Ancient Rome
Although the earliest structural types for spectacles were initiated in Greece, the
stadion, as well as the theatre and hippodrome, continued to be developed by the
Romans, and it was here that these structures reached the apex of design and engineering
in the ancient world and became a monumental expression of their society.
Roman theatres are generally a continuation of the Greek and Hellenistic types,
though instead of utilizing natural topography the Roman examples were built above
ground. The stage and orchestra were also more elaborate, with a high backdrop, and the
area underneath the seating contained vaulted passageways, and the exterior was treated
with a series of tiered arches with order treatments. 9
However, a much larger structure was needed for the staging of Roman
spectacles, such as gladiatorial contests. This was solved by simply joining two theatres
together, in essence, forming an amphitheatre. Generally elliptical in plan, though round
examples are known, the amphitheatre is thought to have first developed in the Campania
region. An alternative possibility lies in the Hellenistic world of Greece, where a
possible antecedent, an approximately oval arena surrounded by embankments for
wooden benches, has been identified at Corinth. Few of the early amphitheatres have
been identified, largely due to their obliteration by later constructions. One of the earliest
dated examples is the one at Pompeii, built c.70 B.C. Unlike most of its later
counterparts, the Pompeian amphitheatre is partially below grade, and has no substructure
underneath the arena floor. Its exterior consists of a shallow, blind arcade, with staircases
that allow access to the upper tiers of seats, and several tunnels through the solid earth
substructure of the seating (the cavea) provide access to an annular passageway from
9

Tomlinson, Theatres in The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization, 710.

12

which staircases accessed the lower tiers of seats. Seating capacity is estimated at around
20,000. 10
The amphitheatre became a common building type throughout the empire, from
northern Africa to Spain, Gaul, and central Europe, though it was utilized markedly less
in the eastern part of the empire, where Hellenistic theatres were often used for the
purposes of Roman spectacle. Some of the better preserved examples include the ones at
Nimes, Arles, Verona, El Djem, Lepcis Magna, and Merida. The greatest example of this
building type, of course, is the Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Colosseum, in
Rome. Much has been written on the Colosseum; it has been the subject of many
travelers, artists, and explorers accounts, images, and drawings since the Renaissance.
Perhaps no other structure has come to be so emblematic, now as it was then, of the
power and majesty of the Roman Empire. Thus little more can be said here other than a
few points to keep in mind for comparison with American stadia. For one, it is
immediately recognizable and symbolic to both its citizenry and to visitors alike. It
represented a significant outlay of capital by the empire, and it represented some of the
most innovative and advanced engineering by the Romans. There are three tiers of
seating (four if counting the uppermost level corresponding to the exterior attic level),
with excellent sight lines, underneath which is a complex series of radiating and annular
groin vaulted passages, stairwells, and portals, providing a sophisticated pattern of access
and egress. Seating sections were numbered and corresponded to an external entrance,
further ensuring orderly circulation. After all, seating capacity is estimated to be at least
45,000. Fountains of water, as well as lavatories, were provided for spectators.

10

D.L. Bomgardner, The Story of the Roman Amphitheatre (New York: Routledge, 2000), Chapter Two,
passim.

13

General view of the amphitheatre at Pompeii (c. 70 B.C.).

Exterior faade of the amphitheatre at Pompeii (c. 70 B.C.).

Plan of seating (top) and substructure (bottom), Pompeii amphitheatre (c.70 B.C.).

14

Plan, sections, and cut-away views of the Flavian Amphitheatre (A.D. 80) (from Bomgardner,
Story of the Roman Amphitheatre, 2000, p. 7, Figure 1.3).

15

Underneath the Colosseum is a complex substructure level, accessed by tunnels to the

outside and lifts that traveled up into the arena itself. On the exterior faade, a series of
arcades rises in three levels, each with a different order treatment (Tuscan/Doric, Ionic,
and Corinthian), and an attic level with Corinthian pilasters. 11
Equestrian events, like in Greece, were held in a separate, specially built structure
called a circus. Long and narrow, with a dividing wall (spina) down the center to prevent
head-on collisions between chariots, the circus could hold many more spectators than an
amphitheatre, largely due to the long length of the racetrack. They were U shaped, with
the starting gates arranged at the open end of the plan. Seating was arranged along the
full length of the circus, and like the amphitheatre, was built up on a system of vaulted
passageways and spaces. As with other structures built for spectacle, there were reserved
seats for important patrons. The largest circus is the Circus Maximus in Rome, at some
600 meters long and a capacity of 250,000, and is known to date at least to the 4th century
B.C. 12
Establishing a new American precedentThe Influential Big Three and other early Stadia
Of the dozens of football stadia built on university campuses across the country
(and later, for municipal governments), during the first three decades of the 20th century,
most can trace their source form to one of three stadia. The Harvard U was the first, built
in 1903, followed by the Yale Bowl in 1914, and finally the revolutionary design of the
Ohio Stadium in 1922. All three would have a profound effect on stadium design for

11

Bomgardner, Chapter 1, passim; Kyle, 319-323; Mortimer Wheeler, Roman Art and Architecture (New
York: Thames and Hudson, 1964), 116-122.
12
Wheeler, 122; William L. MacDonald, The Architecture of the Roman Empire-Volume II: An Urban
Appraisal (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982), 117.

16

decades, until modernism, and new engineering techniques that made domes and
retractable roofs possible, took over stadium design.
The Harvard Stadium
By the turn of the 20th century, football had become one of the most popular
sports in America. Like most other grandstands around the country, for both football and
baseball, the Harvard stands were temporary structures of wood. The Harvard bleachers
were destroyed by fire in 1903, and, inspired by the alumni of the class of 1879; the
university replaced them with the first steel and concrete stadium built in the United
States. Built in four and a half months, the stadium was widely criticized for a variety of
aesthetic, engineering, and functional reasons, and was even described as the biggest
single chunk of concrete in the world by Robert Campbell, an architectural critic for the
Boston Globe and a Harvard alumnus. 13
Criticisms notwithstanding, the Harvard Stadium established the potential for
permanent stadia for university football programs as well as baseball teams in America.
The idea for the stadium originated with Ira Nelson Hollis, a professor of mechanical
engineering and chairman of the athletic committee. Engineers for the stadium were
Lewis J. Johnson, an assistant professor of civil engineering who sketched the original
design, and J.R. Worcester, and the architectural treatment was handled by Charles F.
McKim and G.B. de Gersdorff (of Mckim, Mead, and White). Total cost was 310,000
dollars. 14
13

Robert C. Trumpbour, The New Cathedrals: Politics and Media in the History of Stadium Construction
(Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2007), 15-16; Craig Lambert, First and 100: Harvard Stadium, with
its storied past, is footballs Edifice Rex in Harvard Magazine (Sept.-Oct. 2003), 45.
14
Lambert, 45, 50; Lewis J. Johnson, The Design of the Steel-Concrete Work of the Harvard Stadium in
Association of Engineering Societies (32[6], June 1904), passim; The Harvard Stadium is listed in the
McKim, Mead, and White building list as having been underway or planning in 1899, with McKim as
designer for the external shell and colonnade. This was the period when McKim was heavily involved with

17

In plan, the stadium is configured in the shape of a U, and draws heavily upon the
Olympic Stadium in Athens, recently excavated and restored for the 1896 Olympic
Games. In fact, both the Harvard Stadium and the Olympic Stadium in Athens were of
the same length: 575 feet. However, the exterior faade draws upon Roman precedents,
such as a small circus, consisting of a two tiered system of arches, the whole of which
projects a heavy, aqueduct-like appearance. Initial seating capacity was estimated at
23,000. On either end of the U are two simple towers, the upper portions of which were
added, along with an encircling Doric colonnade along the top of the stadium, in 1909
and 1910, which, along with wooden seats added above the running track, brought
seating capacity to 40,000. This Doric colonnade was clearly part of the original design,
based on drawings published in 1904. This also added a third level to the exterior faade,
but instead consisted of smaller, more widely spaced arches, the whole of which is
surmounted by a great cornice.15
In addition to a football gridiron (called Soldiers Field), there is a quarter mile
track. In what was to become a common theme among these early stadia, prospects of
additional athletic facilities, such as handball courts and a rifle range, were noted as being
possible for the space underneath the seats. Seemingly, the university was aiming to
utilize such an expensive building for more than just a few days out of the year. The
curved end of the stadium, based on the arc of a true circle, was used for theatrical
productions and pageants, much like a Greek theatre. There are two sets of portals, an
upper and lower, the lower set accessed from the ground surface, and the upper set

commissions and planning at Harvard, his building for the School of Architecture, Robinson Hall, had only
recently been completed. Leland M. Roth, The Architecture of McKim, Mead, and White, 1870-1920: A
Building List (New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1978), 70.
15
Lambert, 50. Lambert also gives the length as 576 feet; Johnson, 32.

18

Harvard Stadium (1903).

Harvard Stadium as it stands today.

19

Harvard Stadium (1903), from The American Architect, August 1920.

Harvard Stadium, elevations and sections, from Association of Engineering Societies, June 1904.

20

accessed by a promenade that corresponds to the second level of exterior arches. This
promenade is accessed by four sets of stairs: one in each of the two end towers, and one
each where the straight side joins the curved portion of the stadium. In 1920, Howard D.
Smith, architect of the new stadium at Ohio State University, visited a number of stadia
to study the various positive and negative aspects of each. These visits were reported in a
series of articles in The American Architect later that same year. Of the drawbacks noted,
the track is too close to the high (9 ft) stadium wall, impeding sightlines for track events,
and that the upper portal becomes congested as crowds exit the stadium; the single lower
portal was sufficient. 16
The Yale Bowl
Following the example of Harvard, Syracuse University erected a stadium in
1908. Though smaller than the one at Harvard, the Syracuse Stadium was entirely Gothic
in styling, with medieval towers adjacent the major entrance and a grandstand at one
end outlined with Gothic arches. It followed the plan of the Harvard Stadium--straight
side with curved end and open on the other as in a U. By 1914 however, Harvards
biggest football rivals-Yale and Princeton-began construction on their football stadia.
Like Syracuse, the Princeton Stadium was finished in a Gothic style, specifically Tudor,
and is a more sophisticated design. It too is U-shaped, but the closed end is not circular
but flattened into a three-centered curve. A monumental arched entrance, flanked by
hexagonal towers and crennelated parapets, is at the base of the U, and the exterior faade
is composed of a series of what are essentially stilted Tudor arches. It was designed by
H.L. Hardenbergh of New York, and engineering by Purdy and Henderson, also of New
16

Howard Dwight Smith, Report on Trip to Princeton, College of City of New York, Yale and Harvard
for the Purpose of Inspecting the Stadia at those Universities: Part IV in The American Architect and
Building News (118[2330], August 18, 1920), 221-224.

21

York.. Both the Syracuse and Princeton stadia are unusual in that they both employ a
decidedly classical building form and clad it with a medieval style, presenting a contrast,
or even clash, to the critical eye. 17
More importantly, however, was what would come to be called the Yale Bowl
influenced stadium design even more so than the Harvard Stadium, and rather than taking
its cue from ancient Greece, as Harvard did, the Yale Bowl is decidedly Roman. Unlike
the preceding stadia, the Yale Bowl was built for football only; there is no track or any
facilities under the seats. Able to seat 61,000 spectators, the bowl was partially
excavated, thus the lower half of the bowl is subgrade, with thirty tunnels providing
access to the portals, and the seats above are built upon an embankment. In plan, the
bowl takes the form of an ellipse, taking the general form of ancient Roman
amphitheatres. Architectural embellishment is minimal, limited to single arches with
decorated tympana of the portal tunnels, often with carved bulldogs, and a tripartite
arched main entrance, reminiscent of a Roman triumphal arch; otherwise grassy earth
consists of the bowls outward appearance. Charles A. Ferry was the engineer, and Donn
Barber served as architect. More an engineering marvel (the concrete operations were
staggering) than an architectural masterpiece, the Yale Bowl would come to serve as the
basic plan for most of the succeeding stadia built in America. Just as the ancient Romans

17

The New Stadium for Syracuse University in Architects and Builders Magazine (9[7], April 1908),
310-317; Design and Construction Features of the Palmer Memorial Stadium, Princeton, N.J. in
Engineering and Contracting (43[21], May 26, 1915), 472-475; H.D. Smith, Report on Trip to Princeton,
College of City of New York, Yale and Harvard for the Purpose of Inspecting the Stadia at those
Universities: Part I in The American Architect and Building News (118[2326], July 21, 1920), 94-96.
Apparently the Princeton Stadium was poorly built, as there were no expansion joints, and the concrete was
improperly mixed and within a few years was showing signs of deterioration.

22

Main entrances to (l) Princeton Stadium (1914) and (r) Syracuse Stadium (1908).

Postcard view of the Yale Bowl (1914).

Cross section of the Yale Bowl, from Engineering Record, March 1914.

23

Yale Bowl, plan, from Engineering Record, March 1914.

Postcard View of the Ohio Stadium, Ohio State University (1922).

24

had come to realize, the ellipse provided ideal sightlines for spectators and tended to
equalize in a sense the seating. 18
That same year Mississippi State built a small stadium, with slightly curved sides
and open ends, apparently taking its cue from the Yale Bowl but much reduced in size
and in segments. The following year Cornell built a small concrete stadium, able to seat
9,000; the City College of New York also built a stadium that year, though it was
significantly smaller, seating 7,000, and consisting of only one long side and half of the
curved end. Like at Harvard, the stadium had a Doric colonnade along its crest and
terminating in simple square towers. In 1917 the University of Wisconsin built the initial
section, able to seat 10,000, of what would be a larger bowl stadium. 19
The Ohio Stadium
The arrival of the Roaring 20s signaled a new era in stadium construction,
unprecedented in number and scale since ancient Rome. For instance, five stadia, both
football and baseball, had been built in the United States by 1913, twenty had been built
or were underway in 1920, and in 1923 there were twenty, with two more under
construction. These stadia were not only university structures or ballparks, but the
municipal multi-purpose stadium, a new concept that developed with civic center
planning in vogue, would come into the scene. 20

18

Yale Stadium to Seat 61,000 Spectators in Engineering Record (69[13], March 28, 1914), 369-372;
Yale Bowl Construction Finished in Time for Harvard Game To-Day in Engineering Record (70[21]
November 21, 1914), 556-558; H.D. Smith, Report on Trip to Princeton, College of City of New York,
Yale and Harvard for the Purpose of Inspecting the Stadia at those Universities: Part III in The American
Architect and Building News (118[2328], August 4, 1920), 160-164.
19
Roger Weber, A short history of college football stadia electronic document available at
SportsLibrary.net; Gavin Hadden, The Cornell Crescent in The Architectural Record (57[3], March
1925), 193; H.D. Smith, Report on Trip to Princeton, College of City of New York, Yale and Harvard for
the Purpose of Inspecting the Stadia at those Universities: Part II in The American Architect and Building
News (118[2327], July 28, 1920), 124-126.
20
Roi L. Morin, Stadia-Part I in The American Architect (124[2431], October 24, 1923), 365.

25

The Ohio Stadium at Ohio State University, designed by Howard Dwight Smith,
would become one of the most revolutionary stadium designs in history. The Ohio
Stadium is revolutionary in that it corrects the disadvantages of the open and closed
types of stadia, namely those of Harvard and Yale, respectively. An open stadium such as
at Harvard allows for better air movement and an additional quarter mile track with 220
yard straight-aways for dashes, though the straight sided seating gave poor visibility. The
closed stadium, such as at Yale, with its curved seating, brings the spectators closer to the
field and allows for better vision, though at the expense of the additional track and
ventilation. The Ohio Stadium is of a horseshoe type which is both open on one end
and has curved side seating, allowing ideal vision for all spectators as well as bringing
them closer to the field. It was noted that this type also made for greater compositional
unity. It was also revolutionary for its engineering, being the first stadium in history to
have an upper deck, which allowed for a greater number of spectators to be closer to the
field, one of the first large scale uses of the revolutionary technique of using slurry walls
for the foundations, and to have sophisticated planning for vertical crowd movement
along ramps, stairs, and promenades. Finally, it was stylistically an elegant design,
skillfully incorporating a monumental neo-classicism into a building type resurrected by
American architects and on a scale unrealized in the ancient world. It was a good
engineering structure possessing architecture. 21
The idea for a new stadium began in 1916, following a successful football season
and the realization that Ohio Field could not handle the increasing demand for football
tickets. In 1918 plans and preparations were underway, and financing would come from

21

Charles St. J. Chubb, The Ohio Stadium, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio in The American
Architect (130[2504], September 5, 1926), 203-212.

26

both profits from athletics, namely football, and from public subscriptions through a
capital campaign, which would give subscribers, both the public and from students,
preferences for tickets. Ground was broken in August 1921, within an expansive pasture
along the fringe of campus and next to the Olentangy River. Estimated construction costs
were projected at 930,000 dollars, but the final, total cost came to approximately
$1,500,000. The most expensive structure built to that point on a university campus
made clear that big-time football would become a permanent fixture of intercollegiate
athletics. 22
A narrative of back-history to the stadium, and indeed information on the
increasing popularity of the so called mass athletics at Ohio State, a description of the
design process, design problems and how they were solved, and the nuances of the
stadium design itself, was provided by the architect in a lengthy article in the November
1920 Architectural Record. In this article, Smith states that the three aspects of the Ohio
Stadium that set it apart from previous stadia were the upper deck, the curved sides with
open end, and the extensive use of the space beneath the seats, mostly for additional
athletic facilities, including more track courses, locker rooms, team and training rooms,
and other support facilities. These three features would become standard design practice
in most subsequent stadia. Seating capacity was just over 62,000 and expandable to
80,000 by utilizing the aisles, making it one of the largest stadiums constructed since
ancient Rome; however, this claim would soon fall with the opening of Chicagos Soldier
Field and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. 23

22

Ohio Stadium: The Beginning at Birth of Ohio Stadium electronic document,

http://www.wosu.org/archive/horseshoe/index.htm, accessed March 28, 2009.
23
Howard Dwight Smith, The Ohio Stadium at Ohio State University in The Architectural Record
(48[5], November 1920), 385-406; Chubb, 391.

27

The innovative engineering and other design nuances could fill a very lengthy
paper, but for the current paper the style of the stadium is of particular interest. The style
used for the Ohio Stadium depends on monumental simplicity and classic severity to
express the ideals for which it is built and influenced by historic precedent. 24 That is to
say, a monumental classicism directly linked to ancient imperial Rome. We are fortunate
that an in-depth study of the classical precedents and sources for the Ohio Stadium
survives in the form of a thesis for the Bachelor of Architecture degree, undertaken by
Arthur Francis Deam at the Ohio State University in 1921. The chair of the committee,
who approved the thesis, was the architect himself-Howard Dwight Smith. At this point
some brief words about the architect is in order. Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1886, he
graduated from Ohio State in 1907 with the degree of Civil Engineer in Architecture. He
then studied architecture at Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1910;
while at Columbia he received a Perkins traveling fellowship in architecture. Following
graduation, he worked in the office of John Russell Pope, the well known American
architect, until he returned to Ohio State in 1918 to become a professor of architecture,
though briefly, as he entered practice in Columbus in 1921, where he became a major
regional architect and occasionally represented the office of Pope for local projects. In
1929 he returned to teaching at Ohio State and served as the campus architect until his
retirement in 1956. It was during the period 1919 to 1922 that Smith designed and
supervised the construction of the Ohio Stadium. Further cementing the acclaim of the

24

Smith, The Ohio Stadium, 400.

28

Ohio Stadium design, he received the Gold Medal at the annual convention of the
American Institute of Architects for 1921. 25
In regards to the classical influence, the focus of much of the design is on the
great monumental entrance located at the base of the horseshoe. Composed of a great
semicircular entrance with a coffered semi-dome, measuring 100 feet high and 72 feet in
diameter, suggests niches of the ancient Roman baths or a cutaway of the Pantheon in
Rome. To the rear of the semicircular space are three stilted arches, and a continuous
band of swags or festoons ring the base of the semi-dome. Flanking the semicircular
space are two towers, with a stilted blind arch, and above the band of festoons that
continue across the entire composition, are single rectangular openings with Tuscan
columns and an entablature. Much of the exterior faade of the stadium is given over to
stilted arches, suggesting an aqueduct-like appearance, and above an attic story of
engaged pilasters directly based on the attic story of the Colosseum in Rome.
Terminating the ends of the open horseshoe are towers, similar to those adjacent the
great entrance, and are said to be loosely based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens and
the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos. In order to maintain simplicity and monumentality, the
Tuscan Order was utilized due to its lack of ornamentation. Other classical devices used
throughout the stadium are rosettes, consoles, festoons, grilles, fretwork, and groined
vaults for the ground level passages. A major concern was how to tie the entire building

25

Ohio Stadium: The Men behind the Stadium at Birth of Ohio Stadium electronic document,
http://www.wosu.org/archive/horseshoe/index.htm, accessed March 28, 2009.; Arthur Francis Deam, The
Influence of Classical Architecture in the Design of the Ohio Stadium, Bachelor of Architecture Thesis, The
Ohio State University, 1921.

29

Rendering, main entrance, Ohio Stadium, from The Architectural Record, November 1920.

Elevation renderings, Ohio Stadium, from The Architectural Record, November 1920.

30

Partial exterior elevation rendering, Stadium, from The Architectural Record, November 1920.

Perspective rendering , tower, Ohio Stadium, from The Architectural Record, November 1920.

31

Plan rendering, Ohio Stadium, from The Architectural Record, November 1920.

32

Details of main entrance, Ohio Stadium, from The American Architect, November 1926.

33

Tower details, Ohio Stadium, from The American Architect, November 1926.

34

Plan, Ohio Stadium, from The Architectural Record, November 1920.

35

Cross Section, Ohio Stadium, from The Architectural Record, November 1920.

Plans and section of tower, Ohio Stadium, from The Architectural Record, November 1920.

36

together visually, which was achieved through the fascia band of the upper deck, meant
to emulate the sweeping and unbroken cornices of the Colosseum. 26
The Proliferation of the Stadium in the 1920s
As stated earlier, the Ohio Stadium was immensely influential in the area of
stadium design. The 1920s was one of the great periods of stadium construction, with
dozens of these facilities constructed across the country. Similar in design to Ohio, but
apparently the horseshoe or bow-sided design was arrived at independently, the
stadium for the University of Washington was designed by Carl F. Gould in 1920-21.
Half sunk into the earth, the upper portion of the faade consists of an arcade, with twin
towers flanking the main entrance. Another stadium built at the same time, with curved
sides but with an open corner (to allow for the straightaway track), was Stanford Stadium,
which opened in 1921. Other stadia of note from this same period include the Rose Bowl
in Pasadena, and the Memorial Stadium at the University of California, both based on the
elliptical Yale Bowl; the University of Nebraska, based on Ohio but much simpler in
detailing; and the University of Kansas in 1921 and the University of Pennsylvania in
1922, both following the U plan of Harvards stadium. Franklin Field at the University
of Pennsylvania, designed by the noted Philadelphia firm of Day and Klauder, presented
some design challenges due to the small nature of the site and the disparate architectural
styles of the surrounding buildings (which included the acclaimed University Museum).
Finished in a warm red brick that blends with its environs and an Italian Renaissance
style, with broad Roman arches and stone trim, terra cotta (presumably) cartouches and
consoles at the recessed, semicircular main entrances at the corners of the closed end,
Franklin Field is an elegant design. Seating capacity was 40,000, and in 1925 a small
26

Deam, passim; Smith, The Ohio Stadium, 400-403.

37

upper deck was added. The University of California stadium was an elegant classical
design by John Galen Howard, partially set within a canyon at the edge of campus and
said to be loosely based on the Colosseum, though the parallels are rather vague. In 1924
the Georgia School of Technology (later Georgia Institute of Technology) built
permanent stands at Grant Field (along with semi-permanent east stands built by students
in 1913) in the form of a U, that is, with straight sides. The external faade along North
Avenue and Techwood Drive featured blind arches with Italian Renaissance motifs and
finished in white stucco. 27
Although a number of stadia were built at this time, in varying degrees of stylistic
and design sophistication, one of the most classicizing of university stadia (other than the
Ohio Stadium) was for the University of Illinois. Named the Memorial Stadium, a
common practice at the time to honor the fallen of World War I, it was built during the
period 1921 through 1924. Designed by the prominent Chicago firm of Holabird and
Roche, the stadium is in the plan of a U, with the two long sides rising in two tiers and
the enclosed end consisting of a curved embankment for temporary seating. At either end
of the permanent stands are tower pavilions, finished in brick and stone trim with
Classical details of a balustrade, consoles, engaged columns and an entablature, circular
stone panels, and urns at the roofline. These corner pavilions contain ramps which
provide access to all levels of the stadium, including the promenade and portal system,
memorial colonnade, and the upper deck. This memorial colonnade, located atop the
27

Smith, The Ohio Stadium, 394, 396; Construction Work Starts on Huge Seattle Stadium in The
American Architect (117[2322], June 23, 1920), 806-807; Weber, np; Roi L. Morin, Stadia-Part I in The
American Architect (124[2431], October 24, 1923), 366-373; Roi L. Morin, Stadia-Part IV in The
American Architect (126[2453], August 27, 1924), 197-205; The Franklin Field Stadium, University of
Pennsylvania in The Architectural Forum (39, August 1923), 73-74; Warren Edward Drury III, The
Architectural Development of Georgia Tech. Unpublished Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1984,
137-141; Sally B. Woodridge, John Galen Howard and the University of California (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2002), 155-157.

38

lower tier of seats, is of the Doric order and extends between the two towers along the
exterior faade. A series of eight arched entrances with classical detailing are along the
first level; otherwise the faade is a great expanse of brick, unlike some of the other
stadium examples that employ a monumental arcade along the full length of its exterior.
Seating capacity was 60,000, but with temporary seating in both ends capacity could be
extended to 100,000. Just as with their design for the Grant Park Stadium (Soldier Field),
the plans had to be scaled back due to the projected costs from the initial, monumental
designs. In the first plan, a 200 foot campanile was included, and in another conception,
both ends would be enclosed within a semicircle of permanent seating, surmounted by a
great colonnade with a single tower. Along the exterior of one side faade would have
been a huge fountain and reflecting pool. Like the Ohio Stadium, the Illinois structure
embodied the new and innovative engineering of the period with the skillful application
of a monumental classical style, resulting in a sophisticated and imposing design. 28
Stadium building continued at a fast pace for both universities as well as
municipal government on into the late 1920s, with such notable stadia such as Michigan
Stadium (1927), and a slew of stadia in the Pac10 and the SEC. In the latter conference
such famous stadia as Samford Stadium at the University of Georgia and Denny Stadium
at the University of Alabama opened in 1929. Reflective of changing tastes in style,
Denny Stadium at Alabama was finished in an Art Deco style. During that decade there
were also experimentations with form, most exemplified with the Cornell Crescent, built
in 1925. Designed by Gavin Hadden, a civil engineer based in New York, the Cornell
Crescent was built on only one side of the gridiron and features a curved silhouette,

28

Robert Bruegmann, Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root: An Illustrated Catalog of Works, Volume
II, 1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991), 216-220.

39

Franklin Field, University of Pennsylvania, 1923, from Myron Serby, The Stadium, 1931.

Corner entrance, Franklin Field, University of Pennsylvania, from The American Architect,
October 1923.

40

Grant Field, Georgia School of Technolog (1924).

Postcard view of Stanford Stadium (1921).

41

Memorial Stadium, University of Illinois (1924).

Memorial Stadium, University of Illinois (1924), from Robert Bruegmann, Holabird and

Roche, Holabird and Root: An Illustrated Catalog of Works, Volume II, 1911-1927 (New
York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991).

42

Perspective rendering, Cornell Crescent (1925), from The Architectural Record, March 1925).

Colonnade, Cornell Crescent (1925), from The Architectural Record, March 1925.

43

Brown University Stadium (1925), from The American Architect, February 1926.

Faade, Brown University Stadium (1925), from The American Architect, February 1926.

44

forming a crescent or partial semicircle. On either end are temple-like structures,

between which is a single Tuscan colonnade. The exterior faade consists of large
Roman arches with square openings along the attic level, which corresponds to the
colonnade. 29 In addition to variations of form, well known architects became involved
with stadium design. For example, the Brown University stadium was designed by Gavin
Hadden, in consultation with the acclaimed French architect Paul Cret, who taught at the
University of Pennsylvania. Similar in concept to the Cornell Crescent, the Brown
University Stadium assumes a partial octagonal silhouette, largely dictated by the unusual
plot configuration. Here the colonnade is dispensed with, and instead two towers, simple
in their detailing, crown the dual summits of the stadium. The exterior faade,
presumably by architect Cret, contains five great arches, a series of decorative grilles, and
a central cartouche, the whole of which is flanked by Renaissance inspired towers. 30
The Multipurpose Municipal Stadium
Following World War I there was a trend in American cities to plan civic
centers of public buildings (i.e. library, auditorium, museum, city hall, etc.) as an
integral and coherent part of the city. In addition, the prosperity of the 1920s led to civic
improvements in many cities, and soon the stadium emerged as a monumental and
symbolic reflection of a particular citys ideals and goals and how the citizenry viewed
themselves. Surprisingly, a driving force behind this (in addition to the increasing
popularity of sports) was pageantry, associated with military might and patriotic duty,
29

The curvilinear design is described by the architect as incidental, being arrived at through practical logic
by the combination of the circular curve in plan with the logarithmic curve in cross-section.
Geometrically, this curve may be approximately defined as the intersection of a logarithmic horizontal
cylindrical surface with a circular vertical cylindrical surface. Gavin Hadden, The Cornell Crescent in
The Architectural Record (57[3], March 1925), 195.
30
Gavin Hadden and Paul Cret, The Brown University Stadium in The American Architect (129[2491],
February 20, 1926), 285-288; Gavin Hadden, The Cornell Crescent, 193-203.

45

which had become a part of the American mindset during the world war; in addition,
numerous monuments and memorials were erected. In response to these factors, the City
of Chicago announced an architectural competition for a new stadium on the lakefront, to
be located adjacent the Field Museum of Natural History. Central to the specifications
was the need to accommodate a number of different types of events, and the multipurpose
municipal stadium was born.
Chicagos Soldier Field
Planning for a multipurpose stadium, to be located in Grant Park along the
lakefront, began by the park board in 1919, and invitations for an architectural
competition were extended to six Chicago architectural firms; details of the competition
program and the submissions were published in the American Architect in two parts in
February 1920. All of the submissions were classical in style, largely dictated by the
adjacent Field Museum of Natural History, so as to present aesthetic unity. The firm of
Holabird and Roche was selected as having the best design, and it was clearly the most
grandiose and monumental of the six competition entries. It was to be U shaped, with the
open end on axis to the main faade of the Field Museum, directly to the north. 31 Along
the top of the straight sides were to be a massive double colonnade with end porticoes
and at the center of the curved south end was to be an immense obelisk and circular base,
the purpose of which was to memorialize fallen soldiers of World War I. The stadium
was to be enormous, one of the largest in the country, seating 60,000 in the permanent
stands and another 40,000 along the terraces and temporary seating areas. The
multipurpose use of the stadium is made clear in the competition program, which outlines
31

Actually the stadium is slightly off axis or canted due to the Illinois Central Railroad rail yard to the
southwest of the stadium site, necessitating this slight bending of the axis, but the bend is quite minor and
only noticeable is aerial views.

46

that the stadium be so arranged that large numbers of people may view processions,
pageants, military maneuvers, concerts, outdoor dramatics, athletic contests, track meets,
horse shows, fairs, winter sports, ice carnivals, etc., etc. and the spaces beneath the
stands given over to office suites, storage rooms, restrooms, locker rooms, loading docks,
locker rooms and dressing rooms for the theatre portion, and even stables. Large spaces
for exhibition halls were also included in the plans. 32
After several modifications to the plans, seating arrangements, and downscaling
of the obelisk memorial, apparently substantial enough for Holabird and Roche to change
the commission number, construction began in 1922 and was partially completed and in
use in 1924, and finished entirely in 1926 with the completion of the curved south end,
when it was dedicated at the Army-Navy football game as Soldier Field (it was
previously known as the Municipal Grant Park Stadium). The most striking aspect of the
completed design is the imposing Doric colonnades atop the east and west stands which
terminate in porticoes. These colonnades, of cast concrete so as to resemble block
masonry, with their entablatures and frieze of metopes and triglyphs, pediments and
acroteria, rise some 100 feet above the playing field, and provide striking views of Lake
Michigan, the Field Museum, and the city; it was truly a monumental public space. The
exterior faade is more austere, solid and punctuated by groupings of four rectangular
windows between slightly projecting entryways with classical inspired door surrounds;
staircases ascend to the colonnades. The stadium was published in the Architectural
Forum in February 1925, and in this article the architects relate that the
Doric columns of the colonnade closely follow those of the portico in the temple
of Athena, commonly called the Parthenon. Exhibition halls under the stands are
32

Competition for a Stadium on the Lake Front, Chicago-Part I in The American Architect (117[2304],
February 18, 1920), 206-207.

47

Competition perspective rendering, Grant Park Stadium (Soldier Field), from Robert Bruegmann,

Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root: An Illustrated Catalog of Works, Volume II,
1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991).

Soldier Field as built (1924), from Robert Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root: An

Illustrated Catalog of Works, Volume II, 1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing,
Inc., 1991).

48

Competition plan rendering, from Robert Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root: An

Illustrated Catalog of Works, Volume II, 1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing,
Inc., 1991).

49

Exterior detail, Soldier Field, from Robert Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root: An

Illustrated Catalog of Works, Volume II, 1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing,
Inc., 1991).

50

Colonnade detail, Soldier Field, from Robert Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root: An
Illustrated Catalog of Works, Volume II, 1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing,
Inc., 1991).

51

Section, Soldier Field, from Robert Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root: An Illustrated

Catalog of Works, Volume II, 1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991).

Section, Soldier Field, from Robert Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root: An Illustrated

Catalog of Works, Volume II, 1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991).

Soldier Field on dedication day, 1926, from Robert Holabird and Roche, Holabird and Root:

An Illustrated Catalog of Works, Volume II, 1911-1927 (New York: Garland Publishing,
Inc., 1991).

52

Competition elevation renderings, Grant Park Stadium, from The American Architect, February
1920.

53

Soldier Field, from Architectural Forum, February 1925.

54

Detail, Soldier Field, from Architectural Forum, February 1925.

55

copied after some of the hypostyle halls in Greek temples, the Ionic columns and
the doors having been modeled from examples in the Erechtheion. All details
throughout the structure are adapted from authoritative Classic Greek sources. 33
They further relate that the space beneath the east and west stands were constructed free
of columns, leaving some 125,000 square feet of exhibition space available in three large
halls. It was both an engineering and architectural marvel; unfortunately, the main
criticisms of the stadium is its relatively low profile (dictated in the competition program)
which meant many seats were farther from the field and this ruled out an upper deck.
Thus sight lines can be relatively poor, and designing a facility for many different events
meant that it would be less than ideal for a single use event such as football.
Nonetheless, Soldier Field endures as a Chicago landmark, and has been recently
expanded and modified into a sleek modern stadium while still retaining the colonnades
and exterior finish. 34
Other Municipal Stadia
Planned and built at the same time as Soldier Field in Chicago, the Los Angeles
Memorial Colosseum was based on the elliptical Yale plan, and its immense size
reflected the wider-ranging needs of a municipality rather than a university. No numbers
regarding initial seating capacity could be located; however it was noted in a period
write-up that it sat just less than the capacity of the Yale Bowl. Finished in concrete, the
stadium is a frank expression of its building material, molded into the forms of arches,
support columns, and recessed panels. Detailing is kept to a minimum, and aesthetic
focus centers on the great peristyle gateway, with its larger, central arch and the smaller
flanking arches, at the open end of the structure. It was designed by John and Donald B.

33
34

The Grant Park Stadium, Chicago in The Architectural Forum (42, February 1925), 79.
The Grant Park Stadium, Chicago, 79; Bruegmann, 141-149.

56

Perspective rendering, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923), from The American Architect,
May 1924.

Entrance detail, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, from The American Architect, May 1924.

57

Parkinson, and could accommodate track meets, football, and baseball games. Opened in
1923, the stadium was greatly enlarged, by the same architects, for the 1932 Olympics.
Seating capacity of the expanded structure was 105,000, and hosted the Olympic Games
again in 1984. 35
Two municipal stadiums that followed the design scheme of the Ohio Stadium
were the Terra Haute Stadium, completed in 1926, and Legion Field in Birmingham,
completed in 1927. At the Birmingham stadium, designed by prominent local architect
D.O. Whilldin, only the west stands were built, with remaining sections to come later.
Although constructed in a piece-meal fashion over several decades, the vision of how
Legion Field was to look when completed survives in the form of a small rendering,
which clearly shows Legion Field as a horseshoe shaped stadium, open on one end to
allow for ventilation and for additional track and with curved seating banks for ideal
sightlines. On the south end of the stadium, or at the base of the horseshoe, was a
monumental gateway that featured massive stone quoins, a flagpole above the lintel, and
LEGION FIELD inscribed at the to On either side along the arms of the horseshoe, was
a twenty seven bay brick arcade, and above each arch was a festoon panel cast in
concrete and a shield., the ends of which terminated in a brick pavilion. An elevation of
the monumental south entrance, which rises above the level of the surrounding structure,
shows deeply channeled brickwork or ashlar masonry framing a massive Ionic distyle in

35

Roi L. Morin, Stadia-Part III in The American Architect (125[2445], May 7, 1924), 427-434; John and
Donald B. Parkinson, Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles in The Architectural Record (70, December
1931), 419-424.

58

Perspective rendering, Legion Field (1927), from Birmingham Park and Recreation Board.

Proposed main entrance, Legion Field (1927), from The Birmingham News.

59

antis portico with entablature, and egg-and-dart molding. Above is the inscription field
with a large cartouche containing a lions head. 36
Concluding Remarks
The history of the stadium is a discontinuous one. First emerging deep in antiquity and
developing in the ancient Greek world out of the need for a setting for athletic contests
and spectators, the stadium became one of the larger civic monuments and central to
cities that hosted the myriad of games, which was such a central aspect of Greek society.
Further elaborated by the Romans, with advances in planning and engineering, the
amphitheatre became the setting for spectacles. A major facet of everyday life, the
amphitheatre was a necessary expense, and was found in most Roman cities and colonies.
They continued to be used, even after the coming of Christianity (ironic as the Colosseum
was the site of so many martyrdoms), until finally falling out of use in the 6th century
A.D. It would not be until 1896 that such a large outlay of capital would build a structure
of that scale, and specifically, for the purpose of sport and spectacle for the masses.
With the revival of the Olympic Games, the increasing popularity of team sports
such as baseball and football, as well as a variety of other things converging at the end of
the 19th century, the stadium was resurrected and reinterpreted for the modern world. In
the field of engineering, stadium construction required multiple solutions, made possible
by advances with steel and reinforced concrete. In architecture, there was a stylistic
choice, and architects in Europe and America took widely differing paths. In America
classicism was the prevailing taste, and in Europe, modernism was taking hold. For that
matter, the early decades of stadium construction was argued back and forth between

36

Thomas M. Shelby, From Beaux-Arts to Modernism: The Alabama Architecture of D.O. Whilldin, 18811970. M.A. Thesis, the University of Alabama, 2006; Thomas M. Shelby, D.O. Whilldin-Alabama
Architect. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society, 2009.

60

architects and engineers as to who should design these things. It was soon apparent to
both professions that both were needed for such undertakings.
For the sociologist or anthropologist, the stadium represents a part of cultural
identity, and reflects the position of sports and spectacle in our society. They represent
civic and collegiate pride, and evoke collective memories that bridge social and racial
barriers. It is emotive nostalgia. In many cases they represent national pride; nowhere is
this more apparent than with the Olympic stadia that have been built over the last century,
many now considered major architectural landmarks. Politics has always been entwined
with the stadium, sometimes less subtle, other times, as in the case with those built in
Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy, a bit more subtle. They are a part of our consciousness,
whether we like it or not, and a part of our landscape. Yet as objects of study, in these
and many other fields where such inquiry would be fruitful, the stadium, and much of
sports for that matter, has been largely deemed as not important; it is the other. Indeed,
for many years leading up to the mid-1920s, architectural journals indexed stadia and the
like under the other or miscellaneous heading. Only with the rapid proliferation of
the stadium in the 1920s is it accorded its own heading. In contemporary accounts of the
stadium, which of course focus on the cutting edge designs of today, the history of this
form is glossed over, oversimplified, and rather matter of fact. By far the most beneficial
sources of information regarding these early types were the primary sources, the
architects and the engineering journals of the day, which would recount how particular
things were solved, correspondence between professionals about certain topics, and
images of structures and facades long since covered by later additions and forgotten by
the spectator. Stadia history is actually more complex than one would think, and bridges

61

many different fields of study. Perhaps more investigation should be done, and the story
told.

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