East building of Central Market

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 17/02/2020

TQ 3181 NE 2/10

WEST SMITHFIELD EC1 East building of Central Market

5.6.72

II* Meat market. 1868 by Horace Jones, City architect. Red brick with Portland stone dressings and corner towers; structural cast-iron to gateways and interior; tipped Welsh slate roofs with double-thickness glass louvres to lower half and louvred dormers to upper half of roof.

Rectangular plan with central through-road (Grand Avenue) running north to south. French-Italian Renaissance style. One storey. Thirty-six bay north and south elevations x 6-bay east and west elevations. North and south elevations: each have central cast-iron elliptical-arched gateway to Grand Avenue surmounted by pediment with City Arms to scrolled cast-iron tympanum and flanked by coupled Doric pilasters surmounted by large sitting statues of London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Liverpool. Semi-circular arched recesses to flanking bays, with decorative cast-iron grilles to tympanae and to square-headed windows with cornices and bracketed cills, articulated by Doric pilasters to triglyph frieze and moulded cornice surmounted by urns. Similar east and west elevations each have coupled Doric pilasters flanking tall cast-iron gateway, with ornate tympanum to bracketed pediment over semi-circular arch with City Arms.

Two-storey corner pavilions: coupled Doric pilasters to similar pedimented ground floor elevations with City Arms set in foliat-carved tympanae flanked by stone griffins couchant; octagonal upper stages have oculi set in shell architraves above plate-glass sashes set in eared architraves, enriched tympanae and acroteria to pediments; each have bell-shaped cupola tiled with decorative leaf-punched copper tiles and surmounted by louvred wood lantern.

Interior: Grand Avenue has fifteen-bay queen-post roof with decorative spandrels to lateral and transverse arch bracing, supported on cast-iron tie-beam and column assembly with foliate capitals to columns and decorative spandrels to bracing; ten original cast-iron lanterns survive, attached to cast-iron brackets with decorative spandrels projecting from wrought-iron screens with fleur-de-lys parapets; central bay of each side has decorative wrought-iron gates each set beneath decorative iron grille. Flanking market halls centres around lateral avenue with foliate capitals to row of cast-iron columns supporting lattice girders with decorative spandels to timber arch-braced trusses; other roofs have cast-iron columns with octagonal capitals to simpler trusses without decorative spandrels.

Listing NGR: TQ3187881780