Carreau du Temple
At this location, which is the center of the old Temple enclosure , there was a market that dated back to the Middle Ages . Mainly goldsmiths were numerous there from the 16th century . The number of people it contained at the end of the 18th century has been estimated at 4,000 , and its prosperity can be explained by the fact that this enclosure enjoyed the right of asylum, in particular for insolvent debtors, and the very exceptional privilege of trade exemption.
Before 1789 , a very popular fair, where furs and haberdashery were sold, took place there for three days, and there was also a food market.
The old linen hall to modify
The Rotunda of the Temple and the wooden halls on the left.
View of the old Temple market, demolished in 1863.
View of the market from Rue du Temple looking northeast, just before its demolition in 1901.
Remains of the Rotunda. From 1788 to 1790, Pérard de Montreuil built a first building with a covered gallery, formed of forty-four arcades, called the Rotunda , at the request of Jean-Baptiste le Febvre de la Boulaye ; the shops in the arcades replaced boutiques. An integral part of the Temple enclosure , the Rotunda benefited from the extraterritorial privileges granted to this enclosure: the shops were therefore rented there at a high price and bankrupts found refuge there.
The Rotonde, which had been sold in 1797, became an accessory to a public second-hand clothing market , when in 1802, a decree of the First Consul transferred the trade in "old linen, clothes and rags" which had previously been held at the Marché des Innocents (the former cemetery of the Innocents ) and the Place aux Veaux to part of the vacant land of the enclosure granted to the city of Paris. This open market was considerably enlarged in accordance with a decree, then a law of 1807, and replaced between 1809 and 1811 by four wooden sheds built by the architect Jacques Molinos , going from the Rotonde to the Rue du Temple . These sheds, which were called the Halle au vieux linge, included four pavilions, each with its own specialty:
Behind the market, the rotunda was a private property used for almost the same business. Between it and the market, there was, according to a police order of theJune 15, 1831, an open space called Carreau des brocanteurs or chineurs , because they could meet there from 11 o'clock in the morning to 2 o'clock in the afternoon, but without having the right to deposit their goods on the ground any more than at any other point of the public highway. This second-hand clothing exchange would last until the post-war period .
The market itself had an area of 10,831 m² and included 1,888 shops. The building was rebuilt in 1864 by a concessionary company, the city was to take over the operation of the market when the concession expired, in 1945. It consisted of two buildings, made of iron and cast iron, with an area of 8,600 m² and 4,700 m², separated by a 15 m wide road. Designed by Jules de Mérindol , it was opened onAugust 1 , 1865and contained six pavilions. The rotunda was expropriated and the square then disappeared; however, second-hand dealers were able to sell on the first floor of the market, which continued to be nicknamed the square and in which the public admitted from 9 a.m. to noon paid an entrance fee of 0.05 F.
The prosperity of this market began to decline precisely from 1865. It has often been said that the reputation of bad alloy enjoyed by this strange place where the merchants wanted to make the purchase obligatory had been most harmful to it. A food market was opened there in 1882 on a part of the second-hand clothes market, replacing that of Saint-Martin-des-Champs .
In 1863 , the market halls and the Rotunda were demolished to be replaced by six modern pavilions in cast iron, glass and brick, designed by the architects Ernest Legrand and Jules de Mérindol .
In 1901 the market was demolished and replaced by the current building.
In 1904 , the Carreau hosted the first Paris Fair . The following year, four of the six pavilions were dismantled. Today, only two remain, forming a vast hall (now the Temple Market). Rue Gabriel-Vicaire and Rue Paul-Dubois pass through the removed part, and the rest is between Rue de Picardie and Rue Eugène Spuller .
