[3] The St Aldate's building was designed by the city surveyor, Samuel Lipscomb Seckham,[4] in the Grecian and mixed style and was completed in April 1863.

[5] The St Aldate's building was extensively used for public events: a banquet to celebrate the founding of the Oxford Union was presided over by the Lord Chancellor, Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne, and attended by the former Prime Minister, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, in October 1873.

It was designed by Harry Wilkinson Moore in the Italianate style, built by Thomas Axtell in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £12,500 and was completed in September 1895.

On the ground floor, there were a series of segmentally headed openings which allowed access to the main corn trading hall and to the garaging area for the fire engines.

[14] Instead, the corn exchange became a venue for public events: speakers included the future Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Simon who addressed a meeting demanding peace with Ireland in November 1920.