D.C.'s Eastern Market To Reopen After Fire
By Elizabeth McNamara | Online Only | June 19, 2009
The ever-popular Eastern Market in Washington, D.C.
Credit: Joe Shymanski
After $22 million and 25 months of rebuilding, historic Eastern Market in Washington, D.C., will reopen its arched doorways next week to those in search of food, flowers, or flea-market finds. Although the city-owned building has been shuttered since an electrical fire in April 2007, its popular venders moved their stands to a temporary tent nearby. Failure to reopen Eastern Market, a beloved venue, was not an option.
"This will be a huge, huge, huge event," says Sean Madigan, spokesman for the city's Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development. "For Capitol Hill and beyond, Eastern Market is the heart and soul of the community. And people are thrilled to see it back and operable and rebuilt to its true character. Once again, it's going to be a draw for tourists and the epicenter for the neighborhood and the whole city."
Pierre L'Enfant included public marketplaces in his original plans for Washington, believing commerce centers provided anchors for urban living. In 1873, German architect Adolf Cluss fulfilled L'Enfant's vision with Eastern Market's South Hall, a red brick, Italianate structure. The Market was expanded in 1908 with the addition of the Center and North Halls, designed by Snowden Ashford.
After the fire, many residents feared the market would be rebuilt to accommodate more modern, yuppier tastes. And, though some modernity did creep into the redesign—the North Hall, for example, will have an art gallery and theatrical lighting for events—almost everything has been restored to its original state. In fact, DC Deputy Preservation Officer Steve Callcott says the renovation brings South Hall closer to Cluss's design than the modern market was at the time of the 2007 fire.
"When the market first opened, there were monitor skylights—long windows along the ridge of the roof—that were closed up early on, and nobody knows quite why," Callcott says. "Now people will see how natural light sufficed an adequate level of illumination, which is exactly what Cluss was going for."
The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Southern Field Office donated $20,000 to restore the Market Master's Office, which is located in the South Hall's upstairs pavilion and, before the fire, had not been actively used for more than 50 years.
The market master's job was to resolve disputes between merchants, maintain the budget, collect rent, and bring in new merchants. "He was in charge of everything related to managing the market, and his office overlooks outside farmer's line and inside the hall as well," Callcott says.
The office, which won't be completed by Friday's grand reopening, will include details from the original office: wide-board wood floors, untreated walls, and maybe a table for tea.
"It will be so nice to have a space, even just a space for my laptop," says Jennifer Eubank, who works as the modern equivalent of yesteryear's market master. "I'm so tired of leaving my laptop at people's stands, constantly asking venders, 'Can you watch my laptop for a few minutes?'"
Festivities begin next Friday, June 26, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and speech by Mayor Adrian Fenty, followed by a tour of the restored market. Then Eastern Market will be open for business on Saturday, complete with jugglers, face-painting, balloon artists, musical performances, and, of course, longtime fans of the market.
"[The Capitol] was really built, in many respects, around these markets, and the Eastern Market is the last of the still-functioning markets," Madigan says. "It's a tradition, a ritual, a routine, for people to go and shop for the week, to spend their afternoons there."
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Comments
Submitted by Brian at: June 22, 2009
Hooray! :)