Halifax Building Society

In the early 1820s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company to finance and commission a corn exchange for the town. The site they selected in the Market Square was occupied by the King's Head Inn which dated from 1680. The new building was designed by Lewis Vulliamy in the Greek Revival style, built in Roman concrete and completed in 1828. The main structure was erected above a podium which projected to the north and south. The north end of the podium, which was circular, provided access to the main trading floor through a small porch, which was surmounted by a statue of the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres. Set back, high above the podium, there was a tetrastyle…