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Corn Exchange, Haverhill

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Commercial building in Haverhill, Suffolk, England

Corn Exchange, Haverhill
Corn Exchange, Haverhill
LocationWithersfield Road, Haverhill
Coordinates52°05′06″N 0°26′09″E / 52.0849°N 0.4357°E / 52.0849; 0.4357
Built1889
ArchitectFrank Whitmore
Architectural style(s)Renaissance Revival style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameCorn Exchange
Designated9 May 1973
Reference no.1375531
Corn Exchange, Haverhill is located in SuffolkCorn Exchange, HaverhillShown in Suffolk

The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in Withersfield Road in Haverhill, Suffolk, England. The structure, which is currently vacant and deteriorating, is a Grade II listed building.

History

The first corn exchange in the town was erected in the High Street just to the south of St Mary's Parish Church in 1857. However, in the mid-1880s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, to be known as the "Haverhill Corn Exchange Company Limited", to finance and commission a new and more substantial corn exchange for the town. The site they selected was the forecourt of the old livestock market.

The new building was designed by Frank Whitmore in the Renaissance Revival style, built in red brick and completed in 1889. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Withersfield Road. The central bay featured a short flight of steps leading up to a round-headed opening with voussoirs and a keystone flanked by Doric order columns supporting an entablature, inscribed with the words "Corn Exchange", and a balustrade. The other bays were fenestrated by a bi-partite round headed windows on the ground floor. The first floor was well set back in relation to the ground floor and was fenestrated by a tri-partite segmentally headed window with an architrave and a keystone. There was a gable above which was surmounted a double ogee-shaped pediment. The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, was unimpressed with the design which he described as being "of little merit".

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. Instead, it was used as a community events centre, before being acquired by St Felix Catholic Church for use as their social club. St Felix Catholic Church then sold the building to a developer to fund a new church in Princess Way in 2006. However, the new owner failed to maintain the building and, after it remained vacant and deteriorating for over a decade, St Edmundsbury Borough Council served a notice on the owners, in May 2017, demanding that repairs be carried out. Haverhill Town Council subsequently considered acquiring the dilapidated building but, in October 2017, abandoned its plans to do so after the owner's lenders decided to block any proposed sale.

See also

References

  1. ^ Historic England. "Corn Exchange (1375531)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  2. "Timeline: Haverhill". Visitor UK. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  3. Historic England. "2 and 4, High Street (1375516)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  4. Kelly's Directory of Suffolk. Vol. 11. 1896. p. 152.
  5. "Haverhill" (PDF). Suffolk County Council. p. 8. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  6. "Haverhill From the Iron Age to 1899". St Edmundsbury. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  7. Brown, Cynthia; Haward, Birkin; Kindred, Robert (1991). Dictionary of Architects of Suffolk Buildings, 1800-1914. Ipswich. p. 196. ISBN 978-0951770306.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. "Queen Street Haverhill Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan" (PDF). West Suffolk Council. 1 September 2008. p. 7. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  9. Pevsner, Nikolaus; Radcliffe, Enid (1974). Suffolk (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 253. ISBN 978-0300096484.
  10. Fletcher, T. W. (1973). 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914. London: Methuen. p. 31. ISBN 978-1136581182.
  11. "Haverhill – St Felix". Taking Stock: Catholic Churches of England and Wales. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  12. "You've been served - crumbling Haverhill Corn Exchange to be saved by St Edmundsbury Borough Council". Cambridge News. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  13. "Frustrated Haverhill Town Council drops plans to buy Corn Exchange". Suffolk News. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
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