The Exchange Building once stood on the corner of Deansgate and St. Mary's Gate.  In the photograph below you can see it with its grand arched entrance.  You can see the Wards Building on the right of the image with Barrs Toy Shop at street level.

The two buildings offered offices on the upper floors and street level shopping.  There were more shops and a restaurant in the L-shaped Exchange Arcade.  The arched entrance above led into the arcade (see the image below, shown with the permission of English Heritage.

The building was a victim of the WWII bombing.  For many years the site remained undeveloped. The arrow in the image below points to the location.  It became Manchester's version of Speakers Corner so when it was redeveloped in the 1960s, the office & retail building that was erected was called "Speaker's House".

Speakers House was built in 1963 to a designed by the architectural practice of Douglas Stephen & Partners.  It was described as, "Concrete framed of seven storeys over a two storey coarse aggregate and brick podium."

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