One of the saddest loses to Teesside’s building heritage was the Royal Exchange. Demolished by order of Cleveland County Council for the new A66 link to route south of the River Tees. A road that carved a swathe through the former commercial quarter of Middlesbrough and divided the town in two creating a second “border.”
Victorian Middlesbrough was Ironopolis, one of the enginerooms and workshops of the Empire and the World. Trade was being conducted on a global scale. The town’s business community was in desperate need of a building where they could meet, greet and feed the world with iron and steel.
An Exchange Company was formed and an architect selected for a monumental building to be constructed in the commercial hub of the Infant Hercules. The design of local Stockton architect Charles J. Adams was selected. The building of The Royal Exchange started in 1866 and was ready for opening two years later.
Unfortunately while the Exchange company financed the building to the sum of £28 000 they could not afford the extra money needed for the crowning glory, a proposed tower which consequently was never built. In architectural terms the Royal Exchange was built in the classical (Italian) style and strongly influenced by the baroque rather than gothic revival of the nearby railway station opened a decade later.This was a time when a battle for styles was raging nationally between those that looked back with reverence to the power and dignity of the classical world and those that preferred the mystique and romance of the England’s gothic cathedrals. Both styles can still be seen in what is left of Exchange Place.
The building consisted of two large exchange halls, offices and club premises, some of which later became shop units. There were four corner pavilions of three storey height crowned with pinnacles.
Overall it was a big, strong, solid building as befitting the most important business focal point of the whole town. Actually in its heyday the Royal Exchange was once one of the most important trading centres in the world. When Middlesbrough iron and steel was exported round the globe this was at the heart of the trading transactions. Therefore it had to be imposing and the Victorians certainly knew how to turn their hand to make a mighty fortress of a building.
The old corporation bus station used to be outside on the Marton Road side of the Exchange where I recall catching double deckers from old green (or blue) painted bus stands. My memories are of a dark brooding goliath of a building. It had become empty and neglected in 1970s as the shadow of the planned Northern Route proposal hung over it. I think there were even paper proposals to sell the building for a few quid. But they were empty gestures to placate many townspeople horrified at the neglect of a landmark building.
The whole area went into seemingly terminal decline. The bus station finally closed and the demolition crews moved in in 1985. For me this remains a crime against Middlesbrough and Teesside. Such a proud part of our history sacrificed for a road that surely could have been more sensitively redirected. I was really lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time when a party was invited to have a last look inside before demolition. Although neglected and dilapidated I was still struck by the scale and the Victorian grandeur of the trading halls. Most of my photos show the exchange halls, note the still ornate ceilings and the details on the walls. Get a feel of the scale. It was still possible to imagine the buzz of commerce as steel was bought and sold around the Empire.What a crying shame possibly Middlesbrough and Teesside’s most important Victorian building was torn down for a road that divided the town in two.
I’d be really interested to know your views and memories of this lost industrial jewel.
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February 12th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I always new ‘the exchange’ as an area - for exmple my Manm would say to my uncle - it’s near the Barber’s down by the exchange.
To my shame I didnt know what it really was or where it was -although I remember a lot of busses turning round at ‘the exchange’/
Its was an impressive looking building
February 12th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
….also I recall on the rather splendid programme Grundy’s wonders, his most severe criticism of the area was that bit of the A 66 that cuts the town in two
February 12th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
This is really interesting. Such connection with the town as I have (apart from fortnightly visits for football) is restricted to the five years we lived just outside in the 60s. There was a gap of a few years when I didn’t visit the town at all and this straddled the demolition of this building.
I remember when we first moved up there we used to get the train to the station and then walk round the corner on to Albert Road to pick up the United ‘bus. I thought it might have been up near where Pritchard’s the newsagent is now, but it may have been behind that building. Does anyone know where the United ‘buses used to stop? I also remember the sign of Winterschladen, the wine merchants being somewhere around there. Can anyone shed more light on this?
I would also be interested if anyone could provide any further pictures of the area; there appears to be precious little on the internet.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
FANTASTIC PICS OF THE ROYAL EXC! THEY’VE GUTTED ME!
I HEAVE A SIGH EVERYTIME I DRIVE ALONG THAT FLYOVER… AN ABSOLUTE ABOMINATION. DAMN THE PREVIOUS GENERATION FOR DESTROYING IT.
When I was 17 in the summer of ‘84, me and a couple of mates broke in, in broad daylight!, and had a good mooch around - we started cleaning it up as we were planning to put on a ’squat gig’ for anarcho-punk activists CRASS. There had been other such events around the country. We had been in a few times and were making a bit o progress on the grand hall but then one day The Gazette read ‘CONDEMNED’ and that was that!
It was the used to set THE WORLD PRICE for iron and steel. I have a pic from back in the day of how it would have looked with the clock tower spire on it - superb! Shame it never got built because it would never have been pulled down - it would have been a greater landmark AND ALSO the Town Hall built over 20 years later would have presumably looked a lot different so as not to clash. And it could have been a fantastic museum or arts centre…and maybe then the mima glass elephant wouldnt have been built either! If only… Rob i will dig out the orginal pic.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
[…] are some nice pictures of it on the Lost Teesside […]
March 19th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
There is one tiny scrap of the original left, i saw it today while outside Steel House at Redcar and grabbed a photo.
http://www.hidden-teesside.co.uk/2008/03/19/the-royal-exchange-middlesbrough/
March 31st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
The maps on the links are very useful.
However, if you want to see a slightly bigger picture, the eastbound platform at Middlesbrough railway station has a map of the town which predates the demolition of the Royal Exchange. There is also an enlarged plan of the area around the station which nicely shows where the building was in relation to the station and other buildings which are still there. Let’s hope it (the map) remains there.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Crackin’ photos of the Exchange.
I have fond memeories of the Bodega, a bar buried in the bowels of the building. The Bodega only opened on a lunchtime and served a lovely pint of Theakstons and a mean bowl of chilli. I guess the bar closed in the early 80’s not to long before they tore the building down.
“I also remember the sign of Winterschladen, the wine merchants being somewhere around there. Can anyone shed more light on this?”
I think this was were the Cornerhouse is now.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
reply to gavinsaltburn—Winterschladen were on the corner of I think Zetland street under the station yard, the original owners were James Edie & son importers of wines and spirits if my memory is right. I always knew the exchange building as the Bodega–my Grandma apparently worked there at some time in the distant past.
I see Craig Pancrack is as passionate as ever!
May 17th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
When I was a little girl in 1969 I remember going with my Mum who was the cleaner in the Bodega , I loved the old place, while my Mum did the cleaning I played all over the place, in the kitchens and smoke room and bar, I can still to this day remember that old smoky beer smell, not to mention the mice and rats, and all the traps that had to be emptied, it was a beautiful old building, and I have great memories of the place
August 5th, 2008 at 7:26 am
St Louis Malpractice…
hey just happened in. great site….
September 27th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
greatings…
super!…
December 23rd, 2008 at 4:47 am
Wendy H…
Hi, just meandered in….
January 11th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Bruce - my nana also worked at ‘The Bodega’, don’t know when she started but she was still working there in the 70’s because some days she’d take me with her when my mam & dad were at work. I remember a couple of ladies from my visists, what was your grandma called?
February 28th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I worked in the Exchange as an apprentice Draughtsman for Dorman Long in 1959.The main central engineering department was located in the large central space which was packed with draughtsmen.
March 29th, 2009 at 7:45 am
gaileybev,
I dont know exactly when my Grandma worked there but it would have been prewar, her name was Ada McFarlane ( Dean )
May 5th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
[…] statue stands with its back to the flyover that caused the demolition of the Royal Exchange, although it is now near its original position having been in Albert Park between 1924 and […]
May 27th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Firstly, I had lost track of this site and it seems a tad neglected now and I couldn’t find directions from fansonline. Secondly, I’ve been meaning to post some bad news on here for a while. Basically as part of TPE’s refurbishment of Middlesbrough station (which is in the main a good thing)the map I referred to in a previous comment in 2008 has been removed. Does anyone know where it might have gone. I hope it hasn’t been destroyed as I’d have had that! The tiled mural of the North Eastern Railway (a number of which still exist across the region) remains as it is more obviously an item of beauty and value, but it’s a shame when more recent items are removed simply because they are, well, a bit out of date. Something that’s a bit out of date now will be an item of interest and value in a few decades’ time.