Weigh house

[2] In the 19th century, the public scale declined in importance due to the standardization of weights and measures in addition to the replacement of direct payment of duties by indirect methods of tax collection.

Depending on how political circumstances impacted the prosperity of cities, the multifunctional trade halls which housed the public scales took on diverse architectural expression throughout the different regions of Europe.

In Flanders, with its relatively weak central power, for example, the cloth halls in the Middle Ages display impressive, monumental proportions (Ypres, Bruges, Mechelen).

[6] In France, on the other hand, due to the strong control of cities by the nobility, trade halls are often reduced to simple, long wooden constructions that are open along the lateral facades, as  e.g. in Monpazier.

Beginning in the 17th century in Holland, due to the special political and economic conditions of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, a unique typology devoted to the weighing of merchandise was developed.

[9] The Dutch monofunctional weigh house is found in cities that are located along the western coast of North and South Holland, as well as those with direct access to the major rivers and in the province of Friesland.

[10] In the Netherlands, the structural and technical development of the (monofunctional) weigh house came to a conclusion just prior to the introduction of the Napoleonic reforms at the end of the 18th century.

In the rest of Europe, other conditions, notably the abolishment of internal customs introduced by the emergeing nation-states as well as the collection of taxes based on the value of goods, that lead to a decisive change in the design of the buildings erected for trade and commerce.