Corn Exchange, Haddington
Corn Exchange, Haddington
Location	Court Steet, Haddington
Coordinates	55°57′19″N 2°46′49″W / 55.9552°N 2.7804°W / 55.9552; -2.7804
Built	1854
Architect	Francis Farquharson
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Category B
Official name	Corn Exchange, Court Street, Haddington
Designated	5 December 1977
Reference no.	LB34257
Shown in East Lothian

The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in Court Street, Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. The structure, which is now used as a community events venue, is a Category B listed building.^[1]

History

Until the mid-19th century, corn merchants conducted their trade under the arches of the Town House.^[2] By the mid-19th century, this arrangement was deemed inadequate, and civic leaders decided to commission a dedicated corn exchange on a site to the east of the Sheriff Courthouse.^[3]

The building was designed by Francis Farquharson in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1854.^[4] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Court Street. The central bay featured a Venetian window with an architrave and a hood mould surmounted by a clock, while the outer bays contained doorways with architraves, triangular pediments and wrought iron lamp brackets. The central bay was surmounted by a raised pediment with a carving of a wheat sheaf in the tympanum. Internally, the principal room was the main hall which stretched back behind the main frontage.^[1]

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.^[5] It was subsequently used as a community events venue and, during the First World War and the Second World War, it served as billeting for soldiers.^[6]

In June 2014, the management of the building was transferred from East Lothian Council to the newly formed Haddington Community Development Trust.^[7] An extensive programme of refurbishment works, undertaken by Maxi Construction at a cost of £800,000 to a design by Summers Inman, started on site in spring 2019.^[8][9] The work was paused while the building was used as a vaccination centre during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.^[10] After the work was adapted to allow the Brunton Theatre Trust to use the corn exchange for theatrical performances,^[11] the building re-opened to the public again in October 2023.^[12]

See also

• List of listed buildings in Haddington, East Lothian

References