In the Rue de Pouilly, close to the Hôtel-de-Ville, are the =ruins= of the _Galeries Rémoises_ stores. These shops were partly housed in a Gothic building, of which only a few chimney-stacks remain (_see chimney in photo below_).
_Opposite the Hôtel-de-Ville take the Rue Colbert to the Place des Marchés._
[Illustration: THE RUE COLBERT, BETWEEN THE TOWN HALL AND THE MARKET-PLACE]
[Illustration: RUINS IN THE MARKET-PLACE _Seen from the Rue de Tambour. The "Maison de l'Enfant d'Or" is among the ruined houses seen in the middle (see pp. 75 to 77). The "Hôtel de la Salle" and "Maison Fossier" (p. 76), on the right-hand side of the Square, are not visible in the above photograph._]
Built on the site of the ancient _forum_, the Market Square, before the war, still contained several remarkable 15th century wooden houses. Unfortunately, they were destroyed by the terrible bombardment of May 8-15, 1918, together with the Square.
[Illustration: THE "HÔTEL DE LA SALLE" _On the left: the Carriage Entrance with Caryatids: Adam and Eve._]
[Illustration: THE COURTYARD OF THE "HÔTEL DE LA SALLE" _The graceful Turret has partially collapsed._]
_After turning to the right, on leaving the Rue Colbert, and quite close to the Square, at No. 4 in the Rue de l'Arbalète_, is the house, dating from the middle of the 16th century, where =J. B. de la Salle= was born.
Although this house suffered from the bombardments of 1918, its front is practically intact. It is the finest Renaissance front in Rheims, after that of =Le Vergeur's House= (_see p. 85_).
The carriage entrance is flanked with two life-size caryatids, popularly called _Adam and Eve_, on account of their nudity. Along the first storey runs a broad frieze ornamentated with trophies of arms and a shield of unknown significance. Between two windows of this storey a niche, resting on a console, is crowned with a canopy. The shops on the ground-floor somewhat spoilt the general look of the building. The interior of the house was less interesting than the front.
In the courtyard is a strikingly graceful three-storey turret (_photo above_), one side of which has collapsed.
Among the wooden houses destroyed by the bombardments of 1918 in the Place des Marchés, the following must be mentioned: the =Maison Fossier= (_see p. 76_), which stood in the Square at the right-hand corner of the Rue de l'Arbalète, and especially the =Maison de l'Enfant d'Or= (sometimes wrongly called the House of Jacques Callou), which stood near the Rue des Elus. The latter house took its name from an old sign representing the gilt figure of a sleeping child. Hence, punningly, the name _Golden_ or _Sleeping_ Child.