The area now called White City was level arable farmfields until 1908, when it was used as the site of the Franco-British Exhibition and the 1908 summer olympics. In 1909 the exhibition site hosted the Imperial International Exhibition and in 1910, the Japan-British Exhibition. The final two exhibitions to be held there were the Latin-Bristish (1912) and the Anglo American (1914), which was brought to a premature end by the outbreak of the First World War. 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 the growing population of Shepherd's Bush, a five-storey housing estate was built in the late 1930's, which also took the name of the White City. Streets were named after countries that had featured in the exhibitions.