Former Corn And Produce Exchange

The Former Corn and Produce Exchange is a corn exchange that includes shops and offices, now functioning as a market hall with shops and offices. It was built in 1903 and features an iron frame with sandstone ashlar cladding and a slate roof topped with a glazed atrium. The building has a very large curved triangular plan situated on an island site and is designed in a Baroque style.

It consists of four diminishing storeys, a basement, and an attic, with the east corner being of a different and lower build. The façade has 14 bays, plus a 7-window east end, with the bays separated by piers that rise to tall chimneys. The three western bays are slightly lower and capped with a domed cupola at the corner. The next 11 bays create a symmetrical composition, with the central and end sections projecting slightly and being topped with shaped gables above the attic.

The main entrance is located in the projected centre bay, featuring a giant elliptical archway in a triumphal-arch form, flanked by coupled pilasters of polished pink granite with debased Ionic capitals. This entrance includes corniced entablatures and a banded head with a keystone, leading to a pedimented doorway adorned with similar columns and a frieze inscribed "PRODUCE EXCHANGE." The upper levels of this section have three windows on each floor, including the attic, with various decorative elements such as a colonnade on the top floor, a pulvinated frieze, a prominent mutule cornice, and a pedimented Baroque gable flanked by chimneys. The slightly smaller end bays are designed in a similar style.

The intermediate bays feature rectangular shop fronts on the ground floor, coupled round-headed windows on the first floor, and mullioned windows with three lights on the second floor and four lights on the third floor and attic. The west side and rear are similar in style but simpler.

Inside, the entrance hall remains unaltered and leads to a staircase and a central atrium, which is adorned with round-headed arcades and a glazed roof topped with a central dome.