Eiffel and Mercado Hidalgo?

[laconstance]

A couple of years ago, I met at a local dinner party a Mexican woman with a French name. (Sorry, can't remember it). She told me that her grandfather (great grandfather?) was an architect who had come to Guanajuato to help supervise the construction of the Mercado Hidalgo, fell in love with and married a local girl, and the family has lived here ever since. I had always thought that the building was a pre-fabricated steel structure, shipped in pieces to Mexico. It is not unlike the steel skeleton buildings that were cutting-edge architecture in Europe at the time: the Crystal Palace, the Eiffel Tower, and innumerable train stations. I doubt that Brunel actually designed it -- it makes more sense that he would have overseen its placement and construction. It also makes sense to me that a French architect would have been sent over to collaborate, even if he himself did not do the actual design.

From my roof terrazza I see the east end and clock tower of the Mercado just 3 blocks away. I have often wondered about it. Are newspaper archives held anywhere in Guanajuato? If so, the newspapers of the day could shed some light on the project.