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In part, the shed owes its popularity to the fact that builders are familiar with construction techniques that employ a modular bay system for similar structures, such as barns and churches, in order to achieve the desired enclosure. In addition, the multiple entrances make the facility attractive and accessible to patrons coming from any direction; the shed's openness facilitates air circulation and the unloading of goods; and it is easy to wash down at the end of the market day.

The enclosed market house was the type of choice in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Coinciding with the imperative to improve the flow of traffic and to modernize urban space was a drive to eliminate the apparent chaos and disorder of the open-air market.

Architects in 19th-century France were active in designing new buildings to rationalize and contain marketing. The market in Nevers typifies the enclosed market house popular in France in the early 19th century — a series of rectangular wood or masonry structures with clerestories, arranged in a square around an open court with a fountain in the center.

British architects also looked for new strategies to contain markets physically, while encouraging the supply and demand for fresh food. The London-based architect Charles Fowler (1792-1867), for example, transformed the open-air market at Covent Garden into a fashionable complex of arcades and shops. The new Covent Garden Market, designed in 1828 to 1830, had become London's principal market for fruits and vegetables. Fowler created a unified complex of three parallel buildings surrounded by arcades, connected by corner lodges for eating houses and specialty shops. Horses and carts occupied the open space between the buildings.

Developments in iron-and-glass construction continued to foster the preference for enclosed market houses. The French state, in support of its iron industry, encouraged architects to consider ways to incorporate iron into their structures. Architects responded initially by using iron for wall ties, roofs, floors, and interior columns.

The most daring use of iron for construction began with Les Halles, the principal market in Paris, designed by Victor Baltard (1805-1874) and Felix-Emmanuel Callet (1791-1854). Baltard and Callet conceived of the market as a series of modular pavilions with exposed cast-iron exterior and interior supports.

The functional, aesthetic, and economical qualities of iron-and-glass markets inspired generations of architects and engineers to improve on the design. One aim was the development of roof truss systems to provide the desired height for light and air, without the need for interior supports, since unobstructed floor space was highly desirable in markets.   >>>

Helen Tangires holds a Ph.D. in American studies from The George Washington University. She is a frequent contributor to books and journals on urban foodways and is the author of Public Markets and Civic Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (2003). Dr. Tangires is also the administrator of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

This article is excerpted from Public Markets by Helen Tangires, a Norton/ Library of Congress Visual Sourcebook, copyright © 2008, with permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE The Piazza delle Erbe was built on the site of Verona, Italy's ancient Roman forum. Photo: Library of Congress Extra Large Image Mid-19th-century lithograph of a silk merchant's bazaar in Cairo, Egypt. Image: David Roberts & Louis Haghe/ LOC Extra Large Image SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE The Southern Market and Municipal Building in Mobile, Alabama, was designed by architect Thomas Simmons James and built from 1855 to 1857. Photo: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)/ Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Extra Large Image The Souk-el-Arwam in Damascus, Syria, is often likened to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, Italy. Both covered markets were built in 1873. Photo: Library of Congress Map of New Orleans, Louisiana, showing the location of the city's markets in the 1900s. Image: Library of Congress Map of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1838, showing several distinct markets. Image: William Haviland Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.