The Polytechnic Stadium is a sports venue on Hartington Road, Chiswick,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It is the centre piece of the Quintin Hogg Memorial Grounds (now known as

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polyte ...

Sports Grounds). In 1888 Quintin Hogg built a boathouse near

Chiswick Bridge Chiswick Bridge is a reinforced concrete deck arch bridge over the River Thames in West London. It is one of three bridges opened in 1933 as part of an ambitious scheme to relieve traffic congestion west of London. The structure carries the A31 ...

, which is used at the finish of the

university boat race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men's a ...

each year.http://www.quintinhoggtrust.org/pdf/QHMF%20QHT%20BOARDS%20ROWING%20RUGBY%20LO_RES.pdf http://recordsandarchives.westminster.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/70/2019/05/Chiswick-Research-Guide.pdf When Hogg died in 1903, an appeal to raise funds for a memorial in his memory took place. The

Quintin and Alice Hogg Memorial The Quintin and Alice Hogg Memorial is a memorial for English philanthropist Quintin Hogg and his wife Alice stands on Portland Place in central London, opposite BBC Broadcasting House. The bronze memorial depicts Quintin Hogg with two boys, and ...

was built and a piece of land in Chiswick was purchased. In 1936 plans were drawn up for a sports stadium to be built at the site. The design was undertaken by Joseph Addison, Head of Architecture at

Regent Street Polytechnic The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

. The stadium was home to the 'Polytechnic Harriers' athletics club, along with several local clubs and schools. It was also used for international and national competitions as soon as it was built, including the Amateur Athletic Association championships. In 1938 the sports ground was extended for the stadium to be built by 7.5 acres. The grandstand had a capacity of 658 spectators and contained a restaurant on the first floor. In July 1944 the stadium suffered bomb damage with all the windows blown out and the running track damaged. Behind the stand there is a miniature railway. From 1938 until 1973 the

Polytechnic Marathon The Polytechnic Marathon, often called the Poly, was a marathon held annually between 1909 and 1996, over various courses in or near London. It was the first marathon to be run regularly over the distance of 26 miles, 385 yards which is now the g ...

finished at the stadium. In the 1963 edition of the marathon a world record was set at the stadium by

Leonard Edelen Leonard Graves "Buddy" Edelen (September 22, 1937 – February 19, 1997) was an American marathoner. Based in England for most of his prime competitive years, in 1963 Edelen became the first man to run a marathon faster than 2 hours and 15 minu ...

. Primarily a track and field athletics venue, it hosted the

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

preliminaries for the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

. The grandstand is now a listed grade 2 protected structure, but is unused due to it not being able to meet modern health and safety criteria.http://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/(S(andasi4544gnyd45ywlcb345))/documents/s3299/07%20Quintin%20Hogg.pdf It was the home stadium of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

team Fulham RLFC (now the London Broncos) between 1985 and 1990.

References

External links

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Polytechnic StadiumVideo of Olympic athletics trials at the stadiumVideo of Windsor to Chiswick Marathon in 1950Jim Peters Marathon World Record
Venues of the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey venues Defunct rugby league venues in England London Broncos Sports venues in London Chiswick Buildings and structures in Chiswick {{Summer-Olympic-venue-stub