[4] It was designed by William Adams Nicholson[5] in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone by Kirk and Parry of Sleaford at a cost of £15,000 and was officially opened on 31 March 1848.

The ground floor was rusticated and the central section of three bays, which was projected forward, formed a podium containing three round headed openings supporting a tetrastyle portico with Corinthian order columns, with a large entablature and pediment above.

The outer bays were fenestrated on the first floor by sash windows with cornices supported by consoles and flanked by Corinthian order pilasters.

[1] In the 1870s, civic officials decided to commission a new corn exchange, later known as the Market Hall, which was erected on the corner of Cornhill and Sincil Street and opened in December 1879.

In the 1976, the basement area, which had originally been used as a grain store, was converted into a public house operated by Ruddles Brewery known as the Cornhill Vaults.