[5] It was designed by Richard Tress in the Italianate style, built in brick with a stucco finish and was completed in February 1849.

The central bay featured an elaborate portico formed by a tall round headed opening with an architrave and a keystone, flanked by pairs of Doric order columns supporting an entablature, a modillioned cornice and a parapet.

[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,[8] and it was acquired by Saffron Waldon Borough Council in 1882.

[9] The building was subsequently used as an events venue and the future Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton, spoke at the corn exchange in support of the Labour Party candidate, Jimmy Mallon during the 1918 general election.

[9] The complex accommodates the "Gibson Library", a collection of 25,000 books assembled by the Saffron Walden Literary & Scientific Institution since it was founded in 1832.