This third London coal exchange was one of the first substantial buildings constructed from cast iron, built several years before the hall at the Great Exhibition.

Cast iron decorations from the 1849 Coal Exchange building were selected as the model for the dragon boundary mark for the main entrances to the City of London.

A new building had been built in 1805, with a recessed classical portico supported by small Doric pillars and triangular pediment above, with stone steps leading to a quadrangle within.

By 1848, approximately 3.5 million tons of coal was being transported each year from the coalfields in Northumberland and Durham to London, with over 12,000 shiploads carried on nearly 3,000 vessels.

Historically, coal taxes, payable on each chaldron of 35 bushels or the imperial ton) were charged by the City based on volume measurements.

By 1845, a petition was made to build a new exchange, and the City Clerk of Works, James Bunstone Bunning, produced a design.

The ground floor portico provided access to an entrance vestibule leading to a large central circular vaulted hall.

[2] The dome design was based on that of the Bourse de commerce of Paris by François-Joseph Bélanger and François Brunet, completed in 1811.

It was then used as offices, but the City of London did not proceed with plans to refurbish the building in the 1950s because its demolition had been suggested to allow widening of the road from Blackfriars to the East End, and it became progressively more dilapidated.

A letter published in The Times and signed by Walter Gropius, Sigfried Giedion, Josep Lluís Sert and Eduard Sekler described the Coal Exchange as "a landmark in the history of early iron construction".

MP Tom Driberg made a speech in an adjournment debate in February 1961, quoting a statement by Sir Mortimer Wheeler published in The Times the previous day, saying that "Professor Pevsner has placed the threatened London Coal Exchange among the twelve irreplaceable buildings of 19th century England ...

[citation needed] Despite campaigns and protests, it was demolished in November 1962 to make way for a "vital" widening of Lower Thames Street.