The Central Market was opened on 18 May 1938 by the Mayor of Lincoln, Alderman William Sindell JP, as an addition to the complex of covered markets that had grown up in the area of the open Cornhill Market during the late-19th and 20th centuries. It was designed by the architect Robert Atkinson, whose design incorporated the façade of the Butter Market of 1737 which had formerly stood on the High Street to the north of the Guildhall and was demolished in the mid-1930s during a street-widening programme. Atkinson’s design for the Central Market took the Neoclassical design of the re-used façade as his cue, most obviously in the blind arcading and rustication of the masonry façades of the new market hall. Internally, Atkinson provided enough space for both the market traders relocated from Cornhill as well as the butter and poultry vendors who had previously held a market at the Butter Market prior to its demolition. The building is single-storey, laid to a rectangualr plan fronting onto City Square to the north. It was built with a structural steel frame faced in brick and ashlar limestone, with a hipped roof covered in half with pantiles and half with glazing. The principal, north elevation is symmetrically arranged across 12 bays, with the four central and two outermost bays projecting forward slightly. In the centre of the elevation is the re-used two-storey façade of the Butter Market. The ground floor is of rusticated ashlar with two round-arched entrances with wrought iron overthrows, above which is a wide, stone plat band bearing a central datestone with the inscription 'JOHN LOBSEY MAYOR 1737'. Above, the first floor is of 20th century brown brick with rusticated ashlar quoins and containing an ashlar Venetian window. The exterior of the building retains much of its original appearance, although the west elevation has been altered through the replacement of its stone parapet with brickwork, and the bricking up of four openings. This followed the demolition during the early 1970s of a building which formerly abutted the market’s west elevation. In addition, a public convenience was added to the south elevation of the market between the 1930s and 1960s. The interior of the market was refurbished during the late-20th century. For the full description and the legal address of this listed building please refer to the appropriate entry in the National Heritage List for England. {1}{2}{3}