[2][3] The building was designed by Henry Edward Kendall in the Baroque Revival style, built by Stephen Webb of Long Melford in brick with a stucco finish at a cost of £1,620, and was completed in October 1842.

At roof level, there was a central panel inscribed with the words "Corn Exchange", which was surmounted by a pedestal supporting a sculpture carved in coade stone depicting a group of agricultural labourers, with sickles and wheat sheaves.

[6] The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, was impressed with the design, which he said "deserves a glance, if only to meditate on the early Victorian sense of security, superiority, and prosperity".

Following a successful campaign by the members of the specially formed Corn Exchange Preservation Association, led by a local solicitor, Andrew Phillips, to save the building from demolition, it was sold to West Suffolk County Council instead.

[10] After the completion of an extensive programme of works, undertaken by George Grimwood & Sons to a design by the county architect, Jack Digby, it re-opened as a public library on 24 September 1968.