The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in the Market Place in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, England. The structure, which is currently used as a bar and restaurant, 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

Until the mid-19th century, corn merchants in the town traded in the open at stalls in the High Street. However, in September 1850, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, to be known as the "Hitchin Market Company", to finance and commission a purpose-built corn exchange for the town. The site they selected was occupied by the Red Lion Inn, which was captured in a painting by the local artist,

Samuel Lucas Samuel Lucas (1811 – 16 April 1865) was a British journalist and abolitionist. He was the editor of the ''Morning Star (London newspaper), Morning Star'' in London, the only national newspaper in Britain to support the Unionist cause in the Am ...

, shortly before it was demolished. The new building was designed by a London-based architect, William Beck, in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, built by George Jeeves in red brick with a

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 ...

finish at a cost of £2,600 and was officially opened on 22 March 1853. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto the Market Place. The central bay featured a doorway with an

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, ...

and prominent keystone flanked by wide

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but wit ...

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s 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 ...

. It was fenestrated by large windows with glazing bars on the ground floor and by a central Venetian window on the first floor. At roof level, there was a

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

, a timber

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

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

. Internally, the principal room was the main hall which was long and wide and featured a roof supported by

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

columns. 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. The Hitchin Market Company's financial difficulties were compounded by the fact that it had secured a lease on the market tolls from

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

which expired in 1882: it tried to secure an extension but was out-bid by the

local board A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulat ...

. Instead, the building was used as a public events venue: the local suffragette, Elizabeth Impey, gave a speech in the building in 1907. After having been found guilty of disorderly conduct while campaigning in London, she was sentenced to 14 days in

HM Prison Holloway HM Prison Holloway was a British prison security categories, closed category prison for adult women and young offenders in Holloway, London, England, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. It was the largest women's prison in western Europe, ...

in March 1906. This led to her being treated as a social outcast in Hitchin and, after delivering her speech in the corn exchange, she was smuggled out of a side door to prevent her being attacked by the crowds. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the corn exchange served as a

British Restaurant British Restaurants were communal kitchens created in 1940 during the Second World War to help people who had been bombed out of their homes, had run out of ration coupons or otherwise needed help. In 1943, 2,160 British Restaurants served 600,0 ...

providing meals for needy people. After the war it accommodated a skating rink and, in the 1980s and 1990s, it served as a crafts and antiques centre. It then became a night club known as "Que Pasa" (Spanish for "What's up") in 2009, and became a bar and restaurant known as the "Pitcher and Piano" in 2013. In August 2024, the bar changed its name to The Glasshouse after a management change, although

Marston's plc Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded as a brewery by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2020, the company shifted its main focus away from its original brewing operations, entering it ...

retained ownership.

References

{{reflist Commercial buildings completed in 1853 Buildings and structures in Hitchin Grade II listed buildings in Hertfordshire

History

See also

References