The Exchange

The Exchange stands at the centre of the southeast side of Corn Street, the focus of a collection of commercial buildings, of which sixteen others are listed. It now contains a market and offices. Built 1741–3 by John Wood the Elder; among the craftsmen were Thomas Paty, 'Ornament Carver', and John Griffin, 'Ornament Plaisterer'. The courtyard was raised and roofed in 1872 by E. M. Barry; the current roof dates from 1949. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar with lateral stacks, hipped slate and leaded roofs, and a 20th-century glazed roof to the market. It consists of single-depth rooms arranged on four sides of a courtyard, following a manner typical of Continental exchanges from the medieval period. The style is Palladian.

Exterior

The principal elevation is symmetrical with a pedimented three-window centre set forward. The ground floor is rusticated up to a plat band, above which rises a pedestal course supporting three-quarter Corinthian columns to the centre and pilasters to the sides, topped by an enriched entablature and modillion cornice. A balustrade with dies and a parapet features good foliate urns positioned at the centre and sides. The door is fitted with studs and cast-iron lion-head knockers. Ground-floor windows have incised voussoirs. First-floor windows have Corinthian pilaster jambs with entablature and pediments, alternately triangular and segmental, with a central Venetian window. Square second-floor windows have eared architraves and a central clock face dated 1822. The windows are fitted with 6/6-pane sashes on the first floor and 3/3-pane sashes with thick bars on the second floor. Below the frieze runs a band of well-detailed swag and festoon ornament incorporating human and animal heads symbolizing trade. The tympanum contains a royal coat of arms.

The side elevations have fifteen-window ranges, with the ten windows to the rear enclosing the two-storey courtyard. Ground-floor openings feature Gibbs surrounds. The three-storey front ends have outer window sections set back, with central first-floor pedimented windows and cornices to the remaining windows. A good doorway to the front has an oak leaf surround and long consoles supporting a cornice above double six-panel doors with plate-glass overlights. The rear courtyard has similar windows with first-floor pediments to the rear and fourth window from the front, and six doorways with a semicircular arch in the rusticated section at the back.

The rear elevation is symmetrical with a pedimented three-window centre and both ends set forward, topped with leaded cyma domes. Semicircular ground-floor arches frame the entrances, with niches flanking the central entrance. First-floor windows have aprons and alternate triangular and segmental pediments, fitted with plate-glass sashes. Two basement windows have 6/9-pane sashes beneath grilles.

The sides of the formerly open courtyard feature aisles on each side with five by five bays supported on Corinthian columns rising to an entablature. Mid-19th-century caryatids stand above the semicircular arches, which have paterae in the soffits, head keys, and the entablature above broken forward. Central pediments to the front and back bear the city arms. Pilasters to the sides of the courtyard support a frieze decorated with festoons and heads, with niches between. Doorways at the middle of each side have Corinthian pilasters supporting semicircular-arched openings with tympana containing plasterwork heads representing Asia, Africa, and America. A glazed roof was added in 1949 at the height of the entablature. Ashlar stacks rise to the sides and ridges, the latter with pediment mouldings and cartouches on the inner sides. Good cast-lead rainwater hoppers with cartouches are present throughout.

Interior

The entrance lobby has three by three bays with Corinthian columns and pilasters supporting coffered beams with paterae. Side and end Venetian doorways stand on Corinthian pilasters, the end doorway fitted with double half-glazed doors and a coffered arch with head key. The side doorways have architraves set within them with bead and reel detailing, steps up to double six-panel doors, and wrought-iron railings. To the right is an open-well stair with uncut string, column-on-vase balusters and column newels, and moulded ramped rails. A matching stair stands to the left, with open-well stairs to the rear on each side.

The former tavern to the front right retains wainscotting, panelled shutters and doors, cornices, and fire surrounds with fluted jambs, coved corbels, and mantels. The basement features segmental-arched vaults.

Subsidiary Features

Attached wall lanterns with wrought-iron brackets and flared gas lamps are fixed to the building: two to the right and one to the left return. The cast-iron basement area railings to the front are listed separately, as are two gas lamps which stand before the building, one at the northeast corner and one at the northwest corner. Also listed are the four 'nails' placed in front of the Exchange—16th- and 17th-century brass turned flat-top stands, said to have been used for the exchange of money.

History

The Exchange, Corn Street, was built to provide a space for Bristol's merchants to transact their business. Previously they had used the open arcaded Tolzey outside the nearby church of All Saints, from where the historic nails, said to be the original subjects of the expression 'to pay on the nail', were moved. The Corporation started planning a replacement in 1717, but it was not until 1741 that John Wood was given the commission. Wood originally proposed a covered hall rather than an open court, but 'the Citizens in General, then startled with the Novelty of a covered Place to meet in upon Mercantile Affairs', insisted on the model employed for exchanges in Antwerp and London since the 16th century. The building incorporated a tavern and coffee house to make business run more smoothly; another coffee house was built adjacent to the Exchange in 1782, which is also listed.

During the first half of the 18th century Bristol enjoyed great prosperity, and the Exchange served both to facilitate business and to demonstrate its success. Much of Bristol's trade depended on slavery, its merchants being involved in every part of the 'triangular trade'. Metal-wares which were used to purchase slaves were made in Bristol; Bristol ships transported slaves from the African coast to work on plantations in the West Indies, then carried back sugar to be refined in Bristol factories. Tobacco, also produced by slave labour, was an essential part of Bristol's economy. Between 1630 and 1807 about 2.5 million Africans were bought and sold by Bristol merchants.

The decoration of the Exchange, both on the facade and in the courtyard, proudly proclaims the international nature of Bristol's trading interests which, directly or indirectly, were associated with the slave trade. The rich carving below the frieze at the front of the building was described by Wood as representing 'Great Britain and the four Quarters of the World, with the chief Products and Manufactures of every Country'. Exotic animals include a camel and an elephant. The carved heads include an African woman and an Indian man—Bristol merchants were involved in the East India trade, buying Indian textiles which would then procure slaves—and an American Indian woman, as Bristol slavers delivered thousands of slaves to America. In the Exchange proper, intended to accommodate six hundred merchants, plasterwork heads representing Africa, India, and America look down from above three doors.