The Council House and Exchange Building, Nottingham
The Nottingham Council House, which has come to symbolize the city, was built in the 1920s as a replacement for the old Exchange building. Dating from the 1720s, the Exchange was a modest building, but well used, serving as a venue for public meetings and social gatherings as well as a centre for borough and market administration.
From the mid-nineteenth century an increasing sense of civic pride led to calls for a more spacious and impressive building to replace the Exchange, such as those seen in Leeds and Birmingham. But the Corporation in Nottingham could not agree on a scheme, and although dissatisfaction with the Exchange continued to be voiced, it was not until after the Great War that plans for a replacement came to fruition.
Controversially there was no open architectural competition, but the Housing Surveyor to Nottingham Corporation, T Cecil Howitt, was asked to produce a design. His building was originally conceived as a splendidly grand commercial shopping arcade which would be a flagship building for the prestigious site, and supply revenue to the Council, but protests at the lack of council chamber and other civic accommodation led to a revision, and his revised design was accepted in 1924.
The exterior was built of Portland stone, with Bath stone used for the shopping malls. Statues and friezes were incorporated, representing the activities of the Council, and showing crafts and industries. At the official opening in 
May 1929, the Prince of Wales declared “Here stands a beautiful building dedicated to useful purposes, civic and commercial and here it will stand as a memorial to Nottingham’s past achievements, and, I hope as an earnest of her future triumphs.”
