It was designed by Ellis and Woodard of Fenchurch Street in London in the neoclassical style, built by Lot Jackaman in ashlar stone at a cost of £7,000 and was officially opened by the then-mayor, Charles Beard, on 16 July 1862.

The central section of five bays featured a huge hexastyle portico formed by Ionic order columns supporting an entablature, a frieze bearing the inscription "The Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness Thereof", and a modillioned pediment with a bust of Queen Victoria flanked by figures depicting agriculture in the tympanum.

[6] In the 1960s, Bury St Edmunds Borough Council proposed the demolition of both the second and the third corn exchanges in order to create a parade of shops: the scheme was abandoned in the face of strong public opposition.

[12] A major programme of refurbishment works, commissioned by Wetherspoons at a cost of £1.4 million and intended to allow the first floor to be used as a public house,[13] started on site in 2011.

[14][15] After completion of the works, which involved the restoration of many of the original features including the entrance hall and main staircase, the building re-opened on 5 June 2012.