Corn Hall, Diss

The Corn Hall is a commercial building in St Nicholas Street, Diss, Norfolk, England. The structure, which is now used as an arts centre, is a Grade II listed building.

History
The building was commissioned by the lord of the manor, Thomas Lombe Taylor, whose seat was at Starston Place in Starston. The site he selected was on the north side of St Nicholas Street. It was designed by a local architect, George Atkins, in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone at a cost of £10,000 and was completed in 1854.

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto St Nicholas Street. The central bay featured a tetrastyle portico formed by four Ionic order columns supporting a modillioned pediment. At the back of the portico there was a doorway with an architrave and brackets supporting a cornice. The outer bays were decorated by blind windows with window sills and brackets supporting pediments. Internally, the principal rooms were the main hall, which was 77 feet long and 42 feet wide, and a library with between 2,000 and 3,000 volumes. The official opening was celebrated by a concert performed by an orchestra of between 80 and 90 local people, with all the money raised being donated to the Patriotic Fund.

The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, was impressed by the design and remarked on the "remarkably civilised facade" and comment that "the effect...[of this]...is striking". Shortly after it opened, the building also became the venue for the local petty sessions. The use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century. Instead, it became a community events venue hosting dances, whist drives and bridge drives.

The owners of the building, Diss Town Council, transferred the responsibility for the management of the building to the Diss Corn Hall Trust when the trust was formed in July 2009. An extensive programme of refurbishment works, involving the conversion of the building into an arts centre to a design by Hudson Architects, commenced in January 2016. Following completion of the works, which were undertaken at a cost of £1.7 million with financial support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the new arts centre was opened by the mayor, Mike Barwell, on 5 May 2017.

Works of art in the building include a portrait by the English portrait painter, Sir William Boxall, of the benefactor, Thomas Lombe Taylor.