Leeds Corn Exchange

Address Call Lane, Leeds LS1 7BR

The Leeds Corn Exchange is a Victorian masterpiece — a vast elliptical domed building that once served as the city's grain market and now houses independent shops and cafes. The dome, completed in 1864, is one of the finest examples of Victorian commercial architecture in England. Stand at the centre of the trading floor and look up at the rings of arched windows set into the roof.

The Corn Exchange now operates as a market of independent traders, with shops selling vintage clothing, records, books, and handmade goods on two levels of galleries ringing the trading floor. Several good cafes operate inside. It sits on Call Lane at the edge of the shopping centre, surrounded by some of the city's best independent restaurants and bars.

things to do architecture sight
A story
The Corn Exchange was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, who also designed Leeds Town Hall, and built in 1864. The elliptical dome — 52 metres across at its widest — was structurally radical for its time, spanning the trading floor without any internal supports. Brodrick designed it so that merchants could check grain samples in natural light from the 48 windows set into the dome.