|
The Corn
Exchange
 The first Corn
Exchange built on this site in 1837 was designed by
Richard Lane, who by 1830 was regarded as Manchester's
leading architect. However, his building was
demolished and replaced in 1897 by the current
building. It was in fact constructed in two sections
by different architects in 1897 and 1903.
   The building has a
glass dome which lit the central trading floor.
    In the 1960s various
wholesalers of food products had their premises at
street level and below along the streets that
surrounded the building. A photograph from an earlier
time shows a branch of Parrs Bank to the right of the
entrance shown above and Winn's Cafe next to it. The
actual trading floor fell into disuse after World War
II and, when I visited it in the 1980s, that space was
being used as an indoor market with a number of
dealers selling jewelery, clothes, books and records.
When the IRA bomb went
off the building was severely affected. Restoration
involved the replacement of 800 window frames and 1700
square metres of glass to repair the dome. The £8
million reconstruction created an upmarket retail
centre containing 55 retail units.
    In 2015 the Corn Exchange reopened after another refurbishment.    March 2017     ******************** The following
images of the Corn Exchange were taken prior to
the bombing and are shown with the permission of
English Heritage.
       Close Window |