Built between 1825 and 1859 on the site of the old precious metal wireworks, this covered shopping arcade, which with its little prolongation extends as far as Tue Thomassin, was split in two when Rue de l'Impératrice (nowadays Rue du Président Edouard Herriot) was created in 1852 by the Prefect-Senator-Mayor Vaïsse.
The statue of Mercury, in the centre of the passage, has met with various misadventures over the years.