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The magic of digging through old photographs is that you can mentally construct a Madrid different from the one you walk through today. One full of people, streets and urban elements that disappeared long ago. The Olavide Market, located in the square that gave it its name in the popular neighborhood of Chamberí, is possibly one of the most representative cases.
Although today it may seem hard to believe, until the mid-1970s, the Plaza de Olavide housed one of the most important markets in the capital, one of the most brilliant examples of Madrid's rationalist architecture. Today, we recover its history.
To understand the history of this project, we must go back to the second half of the 19th century, when some street stalls began to be set up in the square to supply the inhabitants of the neighborhood and surrounding areas.
These stalls did not offer optimal sanitary conditions and provided less and less guarantees to customers. For this reason, an enclosed area was built, covered with zinc plates and constructed with two iron galleries in the form of a gallery to house all kinds of stalls, from butchers, to greengrocers or fishmongers. This enclosure was called the "Mercado de la Cebada".
In 1934, the Second Spanish Republic decided to demolish it and replace it with the new Olavide Market, in order to alleviate the lack of facilities existing at the time. The project was commissioned to the architect Francisco Javier Ferrero Llusiá, who, taking advantage of part of the iron framework of the old market, designed a building with an octagonal floor plan that skillfully resolved the urban situation of the square.
The new Olavide Market followed a clear rationalist style with a predilection for simple geometric shapes and a dynamic conception of architectural space as demonstrated by its octagonal perimeter, which grew in height towards the center until it reached the central courtyard, favoring ventilation.
In the 1970s, the Madrid City Council decided to expropriate the market stalls from the merchants and demolish the building to build a subway parking lot and a landscaped plaza.
Its demolition was carried out by "controlled" blasting on November 2, 1974, in a context of absolute disagreement between the City Hall, which considered the market obsolete, and the merchants, neighbors and architects, who defended its preservation due to its great architectural value. Another point of controversy centered on the compensation that the City Hall denied to the merchants, who had acquired rights since the market was built.
Further adding to the controversy, the demolition technique failed in many places and some surrounding buildings suffered significant damage. Roadways and other commercial establishments were also affected.
All this is a difficult story to imagine when you walk through the Plaza de Olavide today, among the terraces in the sun, the locals having their vermouth or the bushes that dye it green. Fortunately, we still have the images to remember.
