Exchange Buildings
EXCHANGE BUILDINGS, LOWGATE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1218076
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1973
- List Entry Name:
- Exchange Buildings
- Statutory Address:
- EXCHANGE BUILDINGS, LOWGATE
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-04-13
- Reference:
- IOE01/03839/27
- Rights:
- © Mr John Turner. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1218076
- Date first listed:
- 12-Nov-1973
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 21-Jan-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Exchange Buildings
- Statutory Address 1:
- EXCHANGE BUILDINGS, LOWGATE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- EXCHANGE BUILDINGS, LOWGATE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- City of Kingston upon Hull (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TA1003428743
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 27/03/2013
TA1028NW
680-1/23/245
12/11/73
KINGSTON UPON HULL
LOWGATE (West side)
Exchange Buildings
(Formerly Listed as The Exchange, and later listed as Lowgate Courthouse)
GV II
Former public exchange, later courts. 1866, by William
Botterill. Converted to courthouse1980-81 by Fisher, Hollingsworth &
Partners. Ashlar ground floor and yellow brick upper floors,
with ashlar dressings and gabled and hipped slate roof. Single
ridge and single gable coped and modillioned brick stacks and
2 corniced ashlar side wall stacks. Italianate style.
Channelled rusticated ground floor with vermiculated plinth,
ground floor cornice, second floor sill band, elaborate
modillion eaves. Windows are plain sashes. 3 storeys plus
basement; 13x7 windows, with inset rounded corner.
Corner entrance bay has double Corinthian pilasters, heavily
rusticated on the ground floor and with quoins on the first
floor. Tripartite first floor window divided by engaged
Corinthian columns and flanked by Corinthian pilasters.
Cornice with segmental pediment to projecting centre. Above,
tripartite window with Corinthian pilasters and moulded
segmental heads with mask keystones. Above the main cornice, a
sculptured figure of Britannia. Below, a rusticated
round-headed doorway flanked by rusticated pilasters, with an
enriched frieze and mask keystone. Double doors with shaped
moulded panels and internal stone steps to curved double
doors.
Left return, to Bowlalley Lane, has round-arched first-floor
windows with with linked heads and moulded keystones, arranged
2:1:2:2:1:2:2:1. The paired windows have central Corinthian
pilasters. Second floor, articulated by squat pilasters, has
similar fenestration with smaller segment-headed windows.
Ground floor, articulated by rusticated pilasters, has an
off-centre round-arched main doorway with half-glazed double
door, overlight and sidelights, flanked by 2 segment-headed
tripartite windows with keystones. Beyond, to left, a single
doorway, then another tripartite window. To right, a smaller
rusticated round-headed doorway with moulded 4-panel door and
fanlight. Below, to left, 4 barred basement openings and to
right, 2 paired segment-headed openings with keystones.
Right return, to Lowgate, has similar fenestration arranged
1:2:1:2:1. Ground floor has 3 rusticated round-headed doorways
alternating with 2 tripartite windows, and 4 segment-headed
basement openings.
INTERIOR: main hall has coved ceiling with coffered panels and
drops and a partly glazed barrel vault, 5 bays, with coffered
panels and tympana, and ribs with guilloche bands. Walls have
round-headed moulded panels separated by pilasters. 2 curved
double doors with coats of arms above, and 2 doors at the west
end with cornices. South side has a central pair of doors with
eared architraves and cornices with crests, and and to left, a
single door with cornice. North side has 5 etched glass
windows with fanlights. Bowlalley Lane entrance leads to a
stone cantilevered dogleg staircase with cast-iron balustrade
and wooden handrail. Marble panelled lower flight leads to
glazed double doors into former basement clubroom.
As well as a shipping exchange, this building also housed a
newsroom, offices, a telegraph company, and a club and
refreshment room in the basement. It was a comprehensive
centre for Hull's commercial life.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Yorkshire; York and the East
Riding: London: 1972-: 277; Anon: Lowgate Courthouse (handbill
provided at courthouse): Hull: 1981-).
Listing NGR: TA 10034 28743
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 387667
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - York and the East Riding, (1972), 277
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 05-Jun-2026 at 14:04:15.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.