Bedford Corn Exchange

Bedford Corn Exchange

This is a former Corn Exchange, dated 1874, designed by architects John Ladds RIBA and Henry William Powell FRIBA. It was later converted for use as a concert venue.

The building stands on a rectangular plan facing south towards St Paul's Square. It is constructed of white brick laid in Flemish bond, with Bath stone cornices and Pennant stone dressings. The roof is covered with slate.

The exterior is organized as a five-bay two-storey building over a raised basement. The central three bays are notably taller and are flanked by lower two-storey entrance bays on either side. The central bays have a hipped roof to the front and a gabled roof to the rear, whilst the entrance bays have lean-to roofs. Four square-plan chimneystacks rise above a white-brick parapet wall at the front.

The front elevation displays classical detailing across the three central bays. A carved Bath stone entablature features terracotta panels in its frieze, with five nodule-like panels to each bay. The bays are separated by pairs of engaged pilasters with foliated capitals at first-floor level, and shallow buttresses at ground-floor and basement levels. Each central bay at first floor contains a segmental-arched window surround with a foliated keystone and spandrels decorated with square terracotta panels in a chequerboard pattern. A double stringcourse runs across all five bays; the upper stringcourse rises to form a continuous hood moulding over the three central windows. The windows themselves are mullioned and transomed, with mullions subtly carved to suggest engaged pilasters.

The entrance bays to each side have a balustraded parapet and plain entablature over the first floor, which contains a flat-arched mullioned and transomed window flanked by pairs of engaged brick pilasters with carved foliated stone capitals. At ground floor level, each entrance bay features a projecting single-storey porch with a balustraded parapet and plain stone entablature. The frieze is inscribed 'CORN EXCHANGE'. The cornice is supported on either side of the doorway by pairs of engaged columns with scrolled capitals standing on tall plinths. Between the columns, a segmental-arched porch opening has carved foliated spandrels, a consoled keystone, and recessed half-glazed doors with glazed sidelights and an overlight, approached by four stone steps.

Between the porches, the three central bays each have three small windows at ground floor level beneath a continuous stringcourse, and two flat-arched windows or doors at basement level. The walls of the ground floor and basement are marked by seven continuous bands of nailhead moulding. The central ground-floor window has been infilled to accommodate a bust of Glenn Miller by Patricia Finch, installed in 1994. Applied metal lettering reading 'BEDFORD / CORN / EXCHANGE' was added beneath the bust around 1995.

At basement level, two central buttresses bear date stones. The eastern stone is inscribed: 'THIS STONE WAS LAID / OCTOBER XXI MDCCCLXXII / BY THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL COWPER, K G / LORD LIEUTENANT OF THIS COUNTY / IN THE PRESENCE OF / HIS GOOD GRACE THE DUKE OF BEDFORD / JAMES COOMBS, M D MAYOR'. The western stone reads: 'THIS EXCHANGE / WAS OPENED APRIL XV. MDCCCLXXIV. / BY THE MOST NOBLE / FRANCIS CHARLES HASTINGS / NINTH DUKE OF BEDFORD / GEORGE HURST J P MAYOR'.

Between the porches, wrought-iron railings enclose the basement, incorporating ornamented gate posts and gates to the interior side of each porch. These gates provide access to a plain metal basement stair, which may have been replaced in the late twentieth century.

The side elevations step back behind the stair halls. The west elevation was infilled at ground floor level and its first-floor windows obscured when the Howard Room was added around 1975. The rear (north) elevation is gabled with brown brick laid in English bond. A single-storey extension and metal spiral stair were added to the rear in the mid-twentieth century, with a further single-storey extension added around 1975.

The interior features a double-height hall with a coved ceiling containing three shallow glazed domes and margins ornamented with paterae. The north and south walls each have an arcade of three blind arches; those on the south wall have windows to the exterior but were boarded to the interior in 1995 for acoustic performance. The east and west walls each have an arcade of six arches, with the north four arches of the east and west walls containing windows. These are covered with acoustic fabric to enhance acoustic performance; the windows of the west wall were blocked when the Howard Room was added around 1975. Each arch has a plain keystone and rests on a pair of engaged pilasters and a shallow buttress in the form of a tall plinth.

Entrance halls in the southeast and southwest corners each contain a stair with a moulded handrail. The west stair has a lift shaft on its north wall, introduced in 1995, and continues northwest into the Howard Room. Both stairs provide access to the first-floor balcony, which likely replaced two smaller corner balconies in the mid- or late twentieth century. An angled sound and lighting room was introduced in the northeast corner of the balcony in 1995. The balcony has fixed tiered seating along its south wall, and the hall below contains retractable theatre seating built into the south wall.

The basement was refurbished in 1995, when the Bunyan and Miller Rooms were formed at the north end of the building.