The Lonja del Comercio (Commerce Market) building in Old Havana, Cuba served as the stock exchange in the capital until the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
The dome is crowned by a bronze statue of Mercury, a replica of the original work of the messenger god by Flemish artist Giovanni Bologna.
It was designed by architects Thomas Mur and Jose Toraya, the structural engineers were the U.S. company Purdy and Henderson, engineers for many important Havana buildings including the Hotel Nacional, the National Theatre of Cuba, El Capitolio building, the Gran Teatro de La Habana and the 1947 Radiocentro CMQ Building by the architect Martín Domínguez Esteban who also designed the FOCSA Building in 1956., The Parti pris of the Lonja del Comercio building in plan is a perfect square and based on the classic 9 square cube problem that was used,[1][a] among others, by Peter Eisenman to design some of his houses [2] and Andrea Palladio in the design of many of his villas.
[4] After the Cuban Revolution, the Lonja del Comercio building suffered architectural deterioration through neglect.
Although the Lonja del Comercio building was part of a capital rehabilitation program that was carried out in 1995 by the Office of the City Historian, in 1989[1] there is little indication that other similar buildings will be saved at least in the near future.