[1] Until the mid-19th century, corn merchants traded in a market hall on the southwest side of Conduit Street.

In 1848, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company, to be known as the "Lichfield Market Hall and Corn Exchange Company",[2] to finance and commission a new combined market hall and corn exchange for the city: the site they chose was on the northeast side of Conduit street where a row of houses had stood.

[3][4][5] The new building was designed by a local firm of architects, Thomas Johnson and Son,[6] in the Tudor Revival style, built by Messrs Collyer and Scott in red brick with ashlar dressings at a cost of £2,500, and was completed in 1850.

Above the arcade, there were a series of small square panels with raised letters inscribed to read "The Corn Exchange".

[1] 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.