Columbia Market

Before the bustling flower market you see today, this site held a spectacular, cathedral-like Gothic structure known as Columbia Market. It was commissioned in 1869 by the wealthy philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts, who was often called the Queen of the Poor. She intended for this massive indoor hall to provide affordable, high-quality food to the impoverished residents of the East End, effectively replacing the haphazard and often exploitative street trading of the time.