Historic market halls built between 1840-1859 in Neo-Romanesque style by architect Christian H. Grosch, originally serving as butcher shops with covered arcades located east of Oslo Cathedral. The red brick buildings were arranged in a semicircle and connected by stairs due to the uneven terrain, which Grosch himself described as giving the complex "a grand and picturesque appearance."
Despite being protected as heritage buildings in 1927, the structures narrowly escaped demolition in 1937 when the city council voted to tear them down for a park, but the plan was postponed due to World War II and eventually abandoned in 1949.