The site they selected was occupied by the Red Lion Inn,[3] which was captured in a painting by the local artist, Samuel Lucas, shortly before it was demolished.

[4][5] The new building was designed by a London-based architect, William Beck, in the neoclassical style, built by George Jeeves in red brick with a stucco finish at a cost of £2,600 and was officially opened on 22 March 1853.

The central bay featured a doorway with an architrave and prominent keystone flanked by wide Tuscan order pilasters supporting an entablature.

[6] The use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.

This led to her being treated as a social outcast in Hitchin and, after delivering her speech in the corn exchange, she was smuggled out of a side door to prevent her being attacked by the crowds.