The Halle aux blés (Wheats Exchange or Grains Exchange) was a circular building in central Paris used by grain traders built in 1763–67, with an open-air interior court that was capped by a wooden dome in 1783, then by an iron dome in 1811. In a major reconstruction in 1888–89 much of the structure was replaced and the building became the Bourse de commerce. The structure influenced the design of public buildings in Britain and the United States.

History

The city of Paris purchased the site of the former

Hôtel de Soissons The Hôtel de Soissons was a ''hôtel particulier'' (grand house) built in Paris, France, between 1574 and 1584 for Catherine de' Medici (1519–89) by the architect Jean Bullant (1515–78). It replaced a series of earlier buildings on the same s ...

in 1755. The ''hôtel'' had been demolished and its materials sold, but the Medici column was left standing. On 23 November 1762 King

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

(1710–74) declared that a hall of grain and flour (halle aux blés et farines) would be built on the site. Construction of the hall began in 1763 following a design by

Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières (March 26, 1721 – July 27, 1793) was a French architect and theoretician. He was born and died in Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most ...

(1721–89), who supervised the work. The circular hall surrounding a circular courtyard was completed in 1767. Six roads radiated from the Rue Viarmes, which ran around the hall. Work on a wooden dome to cover the courtyard began on 10 September 1782 and was completed on 31 January 1783. The wooden dome was destroyed by fire in 1802. An imperial decree of 4 September 1807 stated that the hall was to be covered by a dome with cast-iron vertical arches covered in tinned copper. The replacement was complete in 1811. The building, now made entirely of stone, brick, iron and copper, was considered fireproof. In 1854 there was another fire in the building. By the start of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930 ...

(1852–70) the hall was no longer used to store flour. It was too small to serve the needs of the two million inhabitants of Paris and had become a sort of ''bourse'', or exchange for titles to grain from

Beauce Beauce may refer to: * Beauce, France, a natural region in northern France * Beaucé, a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, France * Beauce, Quebec, an historical and cultural region of Canada ** Beauce (electoral district), a fed ...

Brie Brie (; ) is a soft cow's-milk cheese named after Brie, the French region from which it originated (roughly corresponding to the modern ''département'' of Seine-et-Marne). It is pale in color with a slight grayish tinge under a rind of white mo ...

and Picardy, and flour from the mills of

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

and

Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () was the former department of France encompassing the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris. The building was circular, with an exterior diameter of , and enclosed a round court with a diameter of . The building was pierced by 28 arcades on the ground floor, and the same number of windows on the floor above. The upper floor was reached by a double stairway, so that those going up one stairway would not meet those going down the other. Originally there was no roof over the central courtyard. In 1782

François-Joseph Bélanger François-Joseph Bélanger (; 12 April 1744 – 1 May 1818) was a French architect and decorator working in the Neoclassic style. Life Born in Paris, Bélanger attended the Académie Royale d'Architecture (1764–1766) where he studied u ...

(1744–1818) proposed to add an iron cupola to cover the courtyard, but his plan was rejected. Instead, from 1782 to 1783 a laminated wood dome was built to a design by Jacques-Guillaume Legrand (1753–1807) and

Jacques Molinos Jacques Molinos (4 June 1743 – 19 February 1831) was a French architect. Molinos was born in Lyon and studied in Paris at the Royal Academy of Architecture under Jacques-François Blondel. The '' Halle aux blés'' (Corn Exchange), on the site ...

(1743–1831) based on the principles defined by

Philibert de l'Orme Philibert de l'Orme () (3-9 June 1514 – 8 January 1570) was a French architect and writer, and one of the great masters of French Renaissance architecture. His surname is also written De l'Orme, de L'Orme, or Delorme. Biography Early care ...

(–1570). The wooden dome was pierced by 25 large skylights. These took the form of continuous glass ribbons between the ribs of the dome. Even in dull and overcast weather they let in a considerable amount of light. The dome was almost in circumference, and its summit was above ground level. The interior of the rotunda was decorated with medallion portraits of Louis XVI, police lieutenant Jean-Charles-Pierre Lenoir (1732–1807) and Philibert Delorme, inventor of the technique used to make the dome. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

(1789–99) the medallions of the king and Lenoir were destroyed in 1791. On 16 October 1802 the cupola was destroyed by fire. The Minister of the Interior ran a competition for a replacement dome, and Bélanger resubmitted his design from 1782. In 1806 Jean-Baptiste Launay presented a model for a cast-iron dome for the market to the

Exposition des produits de l'industrie française The Exposition des produits de l'industrie française (Exhibition of Products of French Industry) was a public event organized in Paris, France, from 1798 to 1849. The purpose was "to offer a panorama of the productions of the various branches of ...

. On 17 January 1807 the Ministry of the Interior jury rejected Bélanger's design, which they considered to be in bad taste, and chose a more traditional design for a stone roof. However, under pressure from the Minister, the commission selected the iron dome on 20 August 1807. Construction of the iron dome covered in sheets of copper began in 1809 and was completed in 1811. The engineer François Brunet assisted Bélanger in the calculations and design of the dome, which had a diameter of more than . It was made of 51 sections, corresponding to the midpoints of the 25 arches of the rotunda, with each section made of two beams connected by spacers. The frame weighed 220 tons and the copper sheets weighed 29 tons. The 25 windows of the old cupola were replaced by a roof lantern that illuminated the dome. The lantern had a diameter of .

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

mocked the dome on his 1831 novel ''Notre-Dame de Paris'', calling it an English jockey-cap on a large scale. The copper sheets were replaced by glass in 1838. Leeds Corn Exchange

Influence

When

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

(1743–1826) visited Paris he was highly impressed by the wooden dome, which he called the "most superb thing on earth". He proposed to copy the dome's design in three buildings in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

– the House chamber in the south wing of the

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

and the Navy Yard dry dock. Latrobe was invited to Washington to take responsibility for the Capitol building as "surveyor of the public buildings". He proposed a variant of the Halle aux blés dome. The chamber would be roofed by a low-rising dome that would be hidden on the outside by the balustrade. After some delay, Jefferson accepted the modified design. The interior of the

Brighton Dome The Brighton Dome is an arts venue in Brighton, England, that contains the Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange and the Studio Theatre (formerly the Pavilion Theatre). All three venues are linked to the rest of the Royal Pavilion Estate by a tunnel t ...

incorporates elements of the wooden dome's design. It was built for the future king

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

in (1803–08). The iron dome was copied in later buildings in England such as the London Coal Exchange (1846–49) by James Bunstone Bunning and the

Leeds Corn Exchange The Leeds Corn Exchange is a Victorian building and former corn exchange in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which was completed in 1863. It is a grade I listed building. History The Corn exchange was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, a Hull arc ...

(1861–63) by Cuthbert Brodrick. File:Halle aux blés - 1797.jpg, :Hall's location in 1797 File:Halle au Ble 1818.png, Halle aux blés in 1818 File:Halle aux blés - 2.gif, Architect's drawing File:HalleauBle1887.jpg, Demolition work in 1887

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bles, Halle Buildings and structures in the 1st arrondissement of Paris Agricultural buildings Commodity markets Agricultural economics Grain trade 1763 establishments in France 1873 disestablishments in France Former buildings and structures in Paris Buildings and structures demolished in 1887