The Wool Exchange

The Wool Exchange, built in 1867, was designed in 1864 by Lockwood and Mawson and won a design competition. The foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston. Situated on a triangular plot of land, the building is constructed of finely-worked Bradford sandstone with red and yellow sandstone dressings. The design draws inspiration from the great Flemish Cloth Halls, but its style is Venetian Gothic, particularly evident in the polychromy and the serrated openwork of the parapet cresting. An unexecuted design for Halifax Town Hall by Sir G G Scott is thought to have been a more direct influence. The building features a steep hipped slate roof with ridge cresting. The ground floor arcade, originally open, has pointed arches with shafts and geometrical tracery. The first floor has coupled shafted windows, while the second floor features similar but shorter tripled windows, all with toothed weathered sills and carved impost bands. Bartizan pinnacled turrets are located at each corner, with rose windows to the south end. The north tower has a grand open porch on the ground floor, with canopied statues at the corners and a series of rose windows above, each stage topped with crocketed gables and pinnacled turrets. A sharp spire surmounted by a crocketed pinnacle rises from the tower. Portrait medallions of prominent figures, including Cobden, Sir Titus Salt, Stephenson, Watt, Arkwright, Jacquard, Gladstone, Palmerston, Raleigh, Drake, Columbus, Cook, and Anson, are set within the spandrels of the ground floor arcade, facing Market Street and Bank Street respectively. The main hall, still used as a Wool Exchange, has a finely detailed, lofty hammer-beam roof with wrought iron decoration. It is surrounded by tall polished granite columns with foliate capitals, and an outer south aisle arcade with naturalistic foliage carving. A lively wrought ironwork balcony and staircase balustrade are also present. The Wool Exchange represents the wealth and significance Bradford acquired by the mid-19th century due to its thriving wool trade.