White City, London
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
White City is a place in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Home to the BBC Television Centre and BBC White City, it was level arable farmfields until it became the site of the Franco-British Exhibition and the Olympic Games in 1908, the Imperial International Exhibition in 1909 and the Japan-British Exhibition in 1910. The final two exhibitions to be held there were the Latin-British (1912) and the Anglo-American (1914). During this period it was known as the Great White City due to the white marble cladding used on the exhibition pavilions, and hence gave its name to this part of Shepherd's Bush. To house a part of Shepherd's Bush's growing population, a five storey housing estate was built, to which the name of the White City would come to refer. While, after the Exhibitions, the stadium in the north of the area hosted a greyhound racing track and athletics ground, sited where the BBC now has its administrative headquarters. White City contains the home of football club QPR.
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[edit] New development
Westfield Group (with Hausinvest Europa) is building a new shopping centre, bounded by the West Cross Route (A3220, formerly the M41 motorway), the Westway (A40) and Wood Lane (A219). This centre will be branded "Westfield London".
Two new stations will be built to serve the centre close to the sites of closed former London Underground stations. A new station will be built on the Hammersmith and City Line at the Wood Lane overbridge, between Shepherd's Bush and Latimer Road stations. This is located approximately where Wood Lane station was situated until it was closed in 1959 after a fire. The station will be positioned east of Wood Lane and north of the line, to minimise the walking distance for those connecting with the Central Line station at White City.
There will also be a new station opened on the West London Line which lies to the east of the site and runs between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction. The station will be sited adjacent to the Holland Park roundabout close to the location of Uxbridge Road station (closed 1940) between Kensington (Olympia) and Willesden Junction.
[edit] Nearest places
- Wormwood Scrubs
- Notting Hill
- Kensal Green
- Bayswater
- North Kensington
- Acton
- West Kensington
- Shepherd's Bush
[edit] Nearest tube stations
- Goldhawk Road tube station
- Latimer Road tube station
- Shepherd's Bush tube station (Central Line)
- Shepherd's Bush tube station (Hammersmith and City Line)
- White City tube station
- East Acton tube station
[edit] Trivia
In the early years of competitive international sport, the long distance marathon race did not have a standard set distance. The distance run at the first seven Olympics from 1896 to 1920 varied between 40 km and 42.75 km. The starting point of the race at the 1908 Olympics was at Windsor Castle creating a distance of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km) to the finishing line at White City stadium. In 1921 this was adopted as the standard distance. The extra 385 yards came about as a result of the finishing line being in the wrong place. It was moved to the Royal Box where Queen Alexandra was watching the Games. And that is why the marathon is such an odd distance in both imperial and metric measurements.
Pete Townshend, of The Who and former resident of Shepherd's Bush, released a solo album entitled White City: A Novel in November 1985 on Atco. The title refers to a story which accompanies the album and which takes place in the London area of White City.
[edit] Gallery
 BBC Television Centre |
 Proposed White City development, due to open in 2009. (As displayed on hoardings). |
 Proposed new Shepherd's Bush station, due to open in 2009. (As displayed on hoardings). |
