Vegueta Market

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Squares, streets & markets · Year: 1849-53 · Authors: Manuel Ponce de León y Falcón, Manuel de Oraá

The city of Las Palmas had, for the first time, a proper supply centre late on in 1787, in the shape of a market which aimed especially to restrict tally trade. For this, councillor José Eguiluz had the idea to join together most of the trading spots on one site in the city, to create a single market place, on the left hand side of where the Guiniguada Ravine opened out.

Over time, this measure turned out to be the seed of a more ambitious project which ended up being a formal building for this purpose, in the middle of the 19th century. The city around that time was set around the districts of Triana and Vegueta, and locals got used to having this handy place nearby, and it seemed ideal for it to be sited there, precisely where a large central market was needed.

The structure itself is quite simple, as it was based originally on a cloistral type layout, a central patio establishing a series of corridors for the setting up of market stalls for buyers and sellers. The façades are in the form of screens, with large perforated sheets with hollows and the main entrance. This was considered quite a landmark in construction techniques at the time, signalling the location of the curved arched entrance, with elaborate décor around it, in an eclectic style frontis. 

In 1849, artist Manuel Ponce de León y Falcón presented the blueprint for a project for the market to local authorities, in which there were just two important points to consider: the market frontispiece, and the budget of 98,407 "reales" or old Spanish currency for its actual construction. The building projects around the time needed to be signed by the Provincial Architect, and this was the reason that Manuel Oraá, taking the original idea by Ponce de León, was the one to design Vegueta Market. Oraá laid out a collection of new plans,while at the same time working out a new budget for the job. He made the building altogether more majestic in appearance by widening its perimetre and putting a couple of entrances on to its façade, making the market the unique reference point for the whole region. Oraá certainly got a lot of inspiration from the original project, especially in the composition of the doorway, nevertheless he gave the rationalist architecture a whole new classic feel, making the most of the available space to provide the maximum area for trading, its main function.

In 1852 the Town Hall commissioned Pedro Maffiotte to carry out a sketch of the land for the market to be built on, allowing him to demonstrate his skills as a surveyor, and handed the work over to architect Oráa and engineer Clavijo.

Following a legal battle between Manuel Oráa and the Town Hall, in 1853 the public tender for Vegueta Market was finally pushed through, and was awarded to a team of local masters of Canary building works, namely Esteban de la Torre, Lino de Santa Ana, José Medina, Nicolás del Rosario, José Gil, and Nicolás González, who finalized the building of the city's main market.

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