The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in Queen Street,

Market Rasen Market Rasen ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The River Rase runs through it east to west, approximately north-east from Lincoln, England, Lincoln, eas ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. The structure, which is used as the offices of a firm of charted surveyors, 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

In the mid-19th century, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company, to be known as the "Market Rasen Corn Exchange and Market Company", to finance and commission a corn exchange for the town. After some debate, they selected a site on the north side of Queen Street The building was designed by Henry Goddard 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

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone and was completed in July 1854. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Queen Street. The ground floor was rusticated and each of the bays was flanked by

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. The central bay featured a round headed doorway with a keystone decorated with a carved wheatsheaf, while the outer bays featured round headed windows with keystones. The first floor was fenestrated with

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s; the central window was surmounted by a triangular

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

supported by

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s, while the outer windows were surmounted by

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 ...

s which were also supported by corbels. At roof level, there was 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 (architecture), cornice which helps to support them. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally transl ...

ed cornice. A rival faction, who had dissented over the location chosen, commissioned an alternative hall designed by Bellamy and Hardy on the corner of the Market Place and the High Street. The Market Place building opened in September 1854, but almost immediately got into financial difficulty. After a merger of the two operations in 1856, the Queen Street building became the sole corn exchange in the town. The use of the Queen Street building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century. Instead, it became a public events venue hosting balls, concerts and public meetings. It also became the meeting place of the local

masonic lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

, "Bayons Lodge". In May 1945, a dance was arranged in the building to celebrate

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

, in the latter stages of 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 ...

. After the war and, into the 21st century, regular auctions of agricultural goods were held in the corn exchange sale room. An extensive programme of refurbishment works was completed in 2008, and the building subsequently became the offices of a firm of chartered surveyors, Perkins, George Mawer & Co.

Notes

References

{{reflist Commercial buildings completed in 1854 Market Rasen Grade II listed buildings in Lincolnshire

History

See also

Notes

References