Leeds Corn Exchange

The first corn exchange in Leeds was located at the north end of Briggate and was opened in 1829. By the mid-19th century, it was considered too small, and civic officials decided to commission a larger building. The new building was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, a Hull architect best known for Leeds Town Hall, in the Italianate style, built in stone with diamond-shaped rustification and was completed in 1863. The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, praised the design which he regarded as "remarkably independent and functional". The use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.…