The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in Albert Street in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. The structure, which is currently used as an indoor sports venue, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The first corn exchange in the town was established in August 1846 when Derby Corporation acquired two private houses in the southeast corner of the Market Place and then joined them together. In the late 1850s, after finding this arrangement inadequate, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, known as the "Derby Corn Exchange Company", to finance and commission a purpose-built

corn exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

for the town. The site they selected was open land which had become available for development following the culverting of Markeaton Brook in the 1830s. The building was designed by Benjamin Wilson in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Ita ...

, built in brick and was officially opened in January 1862. The

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer,

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in ...

, supported by her husband, the pianist, Otto Goldschmidt, took part in a concert to celebrate the opening. The design involved a three-stage circular tower on the corner of Albert Street and Exchange Street with a long wing of nine bays facing onto Albert Street and a shorter wing of just two bays facing onto Exchange Street. The tower incorporated three round headed openings with a

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s and keystones in the first stage, three segmental headed windows with

balconies A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

supported by consoles in the second stage and three round headed windows with keystones in the third stage, all surmounted by a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

, a prominent

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

and a ball

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

. The wing along Albert Street was fenestrated with round headed windows with mouldings and keystones on the first floor. Internally, the principal room was the main hall which was long by wide. 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. However, the building continued to be used as an events venue and, in the 1880s, the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...

performed the

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

, ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

'', in the building. In the 1890s, the building was acquired by the hypnotist, Charles Morritt, who brought

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s to the venue in September 1896. It was converted into a theatre known as the "Palace Theatre of Varieties" in 1897: early performers included the comedian, R. G. Knowles, but the theatre was forced to close at the start of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The building was then acquired by William Champneys who re-opened it as a dance hall known as the "Palais de Danse" in 1919. Champneys covered the building in white

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

. The building was converted into offices for use as the headquarters of the Derby Evening Telegraph in 1929. After the Telegraph merged with the Derby Daily Express in 1932, the building became the headquarters of the enlarged business. It was renamed "Northcliffe House" in deference to the parent company, Northcliffe Newspapers, whose proprietor was

Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (26 April 1868 – 26 November 1940), was a leading British newspaper proprietor who owned Associated Newspapers Ltd. He is best known, like his brother Alfred Harmsworth, later Viscount Northcl ...

. The Derby Telegraph moved to larger premises at the new "Northcliffe House" in Meadow Road in late 1979. In the late 20th century, it became an indoor sports venue, equipped with a licensed bar and used by the Derwent Valley Pool League and the Derby Indoor Sports Association. It subsequently became known as the "Corn Exchange Sports Bar".

References

{{reflist Commercial buildings completed in 1860 Grade II listed buildings in Derby

History

See also

References