Coventry's Modernist Market is Listed

Coventry Market Murals A modernist covered market, that provided a life-line for the people of Coventry after the bombing of the city, has been listed at Grade II by the Government on the advice of English Heritage. English Heritage welcomed that the flying-saucer-like building, which is decorated inside with painted murals and a mosaic with a central sun motif, has now been recognised as part of England’s architectural heritage.

Deborah Porter, Heritage Protection Team Leader for English Heritage, said: “This nationally-important building is particularly special to the history of Coventry as it offered a place where people could meet and shop in the years after the war when most of the commercial buildings had been destroyed. It has always remained in use as a market, with many of the same families owning stalls here.

“The market has all the essential elements of rarity and architectural, technological and historic interest that make it listable, but the interior is particularly remarkable. The impressive Socialist Realist-style murals by East-German artists show humans and animals in farming and industrial scenes and are very unusual in England. It was one of the first buildings to have a roof-top car park, and for that reason too it is special.”

Coventry Retail Market was built in 1957 to designs by Douglas Beaton, Ralph Iredale and Ian Crawford from Coventry City Council’s own Architect’s Department.