O2 Arena

The O2 is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars and restaurants.

The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London.

It opened in its present form in 2007 and had at that time the second-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom (behind the Manchester Arena.

The arena was built under the former Millennium Dome and ’The Dome’ remains a name in common usage for the venue.
Credit: Creative Commons

It was built largely within the former Millennium Dome, a large dome-shaped building built to house an exhibition celebrating the turn of the third millennium; as such, The Dome remains a name in common usage for the venue.

Naming rights to the district were purchased by O2 plc (now Telefónica Europe plc) from its developers, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), during the development of the district. AEG owns the long-term lease on the O2 Arena and surrounding leisure space.

After the closure of the original "Millennium Experience" exhibition occupying the site, several possible ways of reusing the Millennium Dome's shell were proposed and then rejected. The official renaming of the Dome in 2005 gave publicity to its transition into an entertainment district. The Dome's shell itself remained in situ, but its interior and the area around North Greenwich Station, the QE2 pier and the main entrance area were completely redeveloped.

Used as a 2012 Olympics venue, the O2 was temporarily renamed for the duration of the Games as the North Greenwich Arena.

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Tony Whipple Frank Whipple Place, E14 Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT	Frank Whipple Place, E14 Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind. Reply
Theresa Penney Whites Row, E1 Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT	1 Whites Row My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields. Reply
Wendy The Polygon Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT	Polygon Buildings Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings. Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT	Road construction and houses completed New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only. Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Steve Charleville Circus, SE26 Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT	Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS) One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc. I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever. Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London Reply
Charles Hornsey Rise, N19 Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT	My House I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s. Reply
NH Woodgrange Road, E7 Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT	Telephone House Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000 Reply
Paul Cox Aldine Street, W12 Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT	War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there. Reply

LOCAL PHOTOS

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East Greenwich gasometer, Blackwall Lane The 19th century gasometer frame in Blackwall Lane, just south of the tunnel entrance and the Millennium Dome (still to be built when this was taken). The framework made intriguing geometric patterns as we sailed down the river aboard the Thames barge ’Pudge’. Credit: Stephen Williams TUM image id: 1513897066 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Northern entrance to the Blackwall Tunnel (1899) Credit: Unknown TUM image id: 1515421361 Licence:	Towers of the Emirates Air Line gondola lift cable car, from the north bank of the River Thames. Credit: Nick Cooper TUM image id: 1515421735 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Map of the Greenwich Peninsula and part of the Isle of Dogs (c.1872) Bugsby’s Marsh - the site of the O2 - was a particularly grim location being land to the south of Blackwall Point where executed criminals were hung in chains. Rather interestingly, the routes of roads of the Isle of Dogs are shown laid out but overlayed onto the watercourses they replaced. Credit: 1872 map TUM image id: 1515422560 Licence:	Quantum Cloud and Slice of Reality (1999) The Quantum Cloud is a sculpture located in the River Thames next to the Millennium Dome. It is 30 metres high and designed by Antony Gormley. It is constructed from a collection of tetrahedral units made from 1.5 m long sections of steel. In designing Quantum Cloud, Antony Gormley was influenced by Basil Hiley, quantum physicist. The idea for Quantum Cloud came from Hiley’s thoughts on pre-space as a mathematical structure underlying space-time and matter. The nearby ’Slice of Reality’ by Richard Wilson comprises of a sliced vertical section of an ocean going sand dredger. The original ship was reduced in length by 85%, leaving a vertical portion housing the ships habitable sections: bridge, poop, accommodation and engine room. The slicing of the vessel opened the structure, leaving it exposed to the effects of weather and tide. Credit: Andy Roberts TUM image id: 1515423209 Licence:
Torpedo boats at the Thames Ironworks, Blackwall (1906) The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek beside its confluence with the River Thames. The main activity was shipbuilding but the company notably produced ironwork for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar in the 1850s, and the world’s first all-iron warship, HMS Warrior, launched in 1860. Employees at the Ironworks formed a works football team, called the Thames Ironworks Football Club. This club was later renamed West Ham United, whose emblem of the crossed hammers represents the large riveting hammers used in the shipbuilding trade. West Ham are also known as "The Hammers" for this reason. TUM image id: 1709817073 Licence:	Celebrations in River Way, date unknown Credit: Unknown TUM image id: 1597145597 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Air raid damage at Athol Street bus garage, Poplar View of the damage caused to the garage roof. It can be seen that several of the roofing panels are missing, whilst others are damaged. A line-up of seven STL-type buses can be seen on the left. Credit: Topical Press/London Transport Collection TUM image id: 1665500763 Licence:	Handmade cababochon using a map of the London Underground Credit: Jane Perrone TUM image id: 1659634976 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Emily Street at the junction of Jude Street (formerly John Street), Canning Town, 1925 Both Emily Street and Jude Street remain on the modern map but all of the buildings have been cleared from the site TUM image id: 1709829781 Licence:
Ceylon Place, SE10 Credit: London Metropolitan Archives TUM image id: 1597141568 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Blackwall station and its pier in the early 20th century. East India Dock Wall Road led to it. Credit: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/ TUM image id: 1607093206 Licence:	A framing section of the Blackwall Tunnel being constructed at the Thames Ironworks (1895) On Saturday 22 May 1897, the western Blackwall Tunnel, designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and built by S. Pearson & Sons for London County Council, was opened by the Prince of Wales. It was then the longest underwater tunnel in the world at 4,410 feet and was initially lit by three rows of incandescent streetlights. To clear the site in Greenwich, more than 600 people had to be rehoused and a house reputedly once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh had to be demolished. Costing £1.4 million and employing 800 men, it took six years to construct, using a tunnelling shield and compressed-air techniques TUM image id: 1660568873 Licence: CC BY 2.0	Pirates were publicly hanged at Execution Dock in Wapping. The bodies of the pirates amongst them were placed in a cage and brought further downstream to Blackwall Point, the northernmost tip of the Greenwich Peninsula. They would then be left in the cages and left to rot - a warning to ships passing through into London. TUM image id: 1622644786 Licence:	A view of the West India Docks when they were newly built in 1802. TUM image id: 1685116994 Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

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East Greenwich gasometer, Blackwall Lane The 19th century gasometer frame in Blackwall Lane, just south of the tunnel entrance and the Millennium Dome (still to be built when this was taken). The framework made intriguing geometric patterns as we sailed down the river aboard the Thames barge ’Pudge’.
Credit: Stephen Williams
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Towers of the Emirates Air Line gondola lift cable car, from the north bank of the River Thames.
Credit: Nick Cooper
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Map of the Greenwich Peninsula and part of the Isle of Dogs (c.1872) Bugsby’s Marsh - the site of the O2 - was a particularly grim location being land to the south of Blackwall Point where executed criminals were hung in chains. Rather interestingly, the routes of roads of the Isle of Dogs are shown laid out but overlayed onto the watercourses they replaced.
Credit: 1872 map
Licence:

Quantum Cloud and Slice of Reality (1999) The Quantum Cloud is a sculpture located in the River Thames next to the Millennium Dome. It is 30 metres high and designed by Antony Gormley. It is constructed from a collection of tetrahedral units made from 1.5 m long sections of steel. In designing Quantum Cloud, Antony Gormley was influenced by Basil Hiley, quantum physicist. The idea for Quantum Cloud came from Hiley’s thoughts on pre-space as a mathematical structure underlying space-time and matter. The nearby ’Slice of Reality’ by Richard Wilson comprises of a sliced vertical section of an ocean going sand dredger. The original ship was reduced in length by 85%, leaving a vertical portion housing the ships habitable sections: bridge, poop, accommodation and engine room. The slicing of the vessel opened the structure, leaving it exposed to the effects of weather and tide.
Credit: Andy Roberts
Licence:

Torpedo boats at the Thames Ironworks, Blackwall (1906) The Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company was a shipyard and iron works straddling the mouth of Bow Creek beside its confluence with the River Thames. The main activity was shipbuilding but the company notably produced ironwork for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar in the 1850s, and the world’s first all-iron warship, HMS Warrior, launched in 1860. Employees at the Ironworks formed a works football team, called the Thames Ironworks Football Club. This club was later renamed West Ham United, whose emblem of the crossed hammers represents the large riveting hammers used in the shipbuilding trade. West Ham are also known as "The Hammers" for this reason.
Licence:

Celebrations in River Way, date unknown
Credit: Unknown
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Handmade cababochon using a map of the London Underground
Credit: Jane Perrone
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Blackwall station and its pier in the early 20th century. East India Dock Wall Road led to it.
Credit: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/
Licence:

A framing section of the Blackwall Tunnel being constructed at the Thames Ironworks (1895) On Saturday 22 May 1897, the western Blackwall Tunnel, designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and built by S. Pearson & Sons for London County Council, was opened by the Prince of Wales. It was then the longest underwater tunnel in the world at 4,410 feet and was initially lit by three rows of incandescent streetlights. To clear the site in Greenwich, more than 600 people had to be rehoused and a house reputedly once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh had to be demolished. Costing £1.4 million and employing 800 men, it took six years to construct, using a tunnelling shield and compressed-air techniques
Licence: CC BY 2.0

Pirates were publicly hanged at Execution Dock in Wapping. The bodies of the pirates amongst them were placed in a cage and brought further downstream to Blackwall Point, the northernmost tip of the Greenwich Peninsula. They would then be left in the cages and left to rot - a warning to ships passing through into London.
Licence:

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