The Exchange, Bristol

The Exchange
The Exchange at dusk
Location within Bristol
General information
Town or city	Bristol
Country	England
Coordinates	51°27′16″N 2°35′37″W / 51.4544°N 2.5935°W / 51.4544; -2.5935
Construction started	1741
Completed	1743
Design and construction
Architect	John Wood the Elder

The Exchange is a Grade I listed building built in 1741–43 by John Wood the Elder, on Corn Street, near the junction with Broad Street in Bristol, England. It was previously used as a corn and general trade exchange but is now used as offices and St Nicholas Market.

The Exchange underwent major building work in 1872, including roofing over the courtyard, and again in the early 1900s when the City Valuer's Department moved to the building. Since World War II the external clock tower has been removed and the roof lowered.

Outside the building are four bronze tables dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, known as "nails," at which merchants carried out their business. At the front of the building is a clock showing both Greenwich Mean Time and "local time".

The Exchange was built in 1741–43 by John Wood the Elder, with carvings by Thomas Paty. Wood was also the architect of the Liverpool Exchange, which was completed in 1754 and gutted by fire in 1795. The London Exchange of Wood's day was also destroyed by fire in 1838. Bristol's Exchange is therefore unique, the only surviving 18th-century exchange building in England.

When finished in 1743 the Exchange, as planned, had "the outward appearance of one grand structure,” and the much-admired exterior remains today largely as built. The front of the building has Corinthian columnsin the centre and pilasters to the sides. A central semicircular-arched doorway has cast-iron lion-head knockers. A frieze with human and animal heads symbolises trade, and a Royal Coat of Arms is displayed in the tympanum. The rear of the building is symmetrical with pedimented windows and semicircular ground-floor arches.

Internally, however, it consisted of various spaces. On either side of the front entrance in Corn Street were a coffeehouse and tavern, each of four storeys. Above and below the main entrance were rooms designed as strongrooms. In the centre of the Exchange was an open court, surrounded by a colonnade. At the back of the building was a two-storey range, consisting of an arcade on the ground floor and a long first-floor room. Facing All Saints Lane were two four-storey houses for business or trades persons, and on the frontage to Exchange Avenue were a further three houses. Below these various elements were cellars. Those below the five houses were each separate; the others were mostly interconnected.