The current Old Book Fair is the successor to a used book market set up at the beginning of the 20th century next to the railings of the Royal Botanical Gardens, perhaps the substitute for the old San Mateo Fairs, which were held in the vicinity of Atocha in the last third of the 19th century. The current fair came into being in 1925 when, on the initiative of the Madrid City Council, a stall model, measuring fifteen square metres, was agreed, designed by the municipal architect Luis Bellido, and which was rented to the booksellers on payment of an annual fee. Ninety-five years later, the fair is still up and running, in spite of the difficulties of the successive renovations of the stalls, and its closure in 2004, when an accidental fire that occurred in an electrical substation in the nearby Calle de Almadén led to its transfer to its old location next to the railings of the Botanical Gardens until 2007.