The Corn Exchange, also known as The Arc, is a commercial building in Jewry Street in

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

, Hampshire, England. The structure, which is currently used as a cultural hub, is a Grade II* listed building.

History

In the mid-1830s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, known as the "Winchester Corn Exchange Company", to finance and commission a corn exchange for the town. The site they selected was open ground which had been occupied by a garden known as "Forstersplace" in the 15th century. The new building was designed by

Owen Browne Carter Owen Browne Carter (1806 – 30 March 1859) was an English architect, based in Winchester, but also had works commissioned from all around the country. He designed several public buildings, such as The Corn Exchange in Winchester, now the Librar ...

in the Italianate style, built in yellow brick with stone dressings at a cost of £4,000 and was completed in 1838. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of eleven bays facing onto Jewry Street with the end bays projected forward as pavilions. The central section of three bays featured a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

formed by four Tuscan order columns supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

, a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

with wide

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

and a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

ed pediment. The wings were fenestrated by round headed windows with voussoirs and, at roof level, there was a central bell turret. The portico was modelled on that designed by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

for

St Paul Covent Garden St Paul Covent Garden was a civil parish in the metropolitan area of London, England. The former area of the parish now corresponds to the Covent Garden market and surrounding streets in the City of Westminster. History It was created in 16 ...

. Describing the front of the building, '' The Gentleman's Magazine'' said that Carter had "endeavored to avoid the flimsy effect of the modern Grecian school, and to keep in view the more legitimate style of design inculcated by

Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...

in Italy, and at home by our own countrymen, Jones and

Wren Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonly ...

." 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. It was converted for use as a roller-skating rink in 1906, as a theatre in 1915 and then as a cinema in 1917. After that, it became a dance hall in 1922, a cinema again in 1933 and finally a public library in 1936. Hampshire County Council took over management of the building in 1974. A major programme of works, costing £7 million, to convert the building into a "Discovery Centre" was completed in February 2008. The works involved the creation of an exhibition room on the ground floor. The building was officially re-opened by Duchess of Cornwall on 21 February 2008. A further programme of refurbishment works, costing £715,000, leading to the re-branding of the building as a "Cultural Hub" was completed in February 2022. Although the ground floor subsequently remained in use for lending of books, the whole of the mezzanine floor became exhibition space. The Hampshire Cultural Trust took over the management of the building, which was re-branded as "The Arc", at that time.

References

{{Authority control Commercial buildings completed in 1838 Buildings and structures in Winchester Grade II* listed buildings in Hampshire

History

See also

References