First photos ever taken of the Corn Exchange ceiling

Posted on June 5, 2020June 8, 2020 by carlotta

First photos ever taken of the Corn Exchange ceiling

I am so pleased to be able to share this photograph I took of the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange in January. This is the apex of the magnificent vaulted roof. At a height of 34 ft (10.3m), this unsupported structure covers a space of 178 by 58 ft (54 by 17.6m), the widest span timber frame in the country. Legend has it that there were delays to the construction of the building 200 years ago because of the difficulty of finding large enough single spans of roof timber.

This ceiling has never been photographed up close because it has remained too difficult to get to – until now. The wooden platform shown here is laid across the top of the scaffolding birdcage that fills the open space of the Corn Exchange, giving access to the timbers for the first time in 200 years. This enables them to be examined and repaired – and photographed. Lucky me, I got to be the one for the job.

Many more of my photographs of the Corn Exchange restoration can be found here. You can read more about the progress of the work on the Brighton Dome website here.

The new within the old at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 by carlotta

The new within the old at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange

I have been photographing the huge beautiful windows of the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange for nearly two years now. I love that they never look quite the same depending on the time of day, the quality of light, the stage of renovation, with panes of glass and without, and sometimes covered by large sheets of semi-opaque plastic.

The amount of work that has gone into their refurbishment is enormous. The size and shape varies for every pane of glass, meaning that each one has to be individually fitted into its specific place. I counted 185 panes in just one of the 11 large windows of the main hall. In all, this has been a monumental task.

It was very exciting, therefore, to see the finished result this week. Several fully renovated windows were freshly painted and pointed and sporting all new glass. Within these shiny panes you can see the reflection of the new modern extension. This white steel and glass box creates a dazzling light-filled space where the exterior becomes the interior and the beautiful old windows are in pride of place.

More photographs of the refurbishment of the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange can be found here.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can work together. I deliver photographs that delve deeper than showing just the surface of things.

Lost in space

Posted on January 4, 2019 by carlotta

Lost in space

Wishing you all a very happy New Year! A new year and a 200-year-old ceiling at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, the redevelopment I have been documenting over the past 18 months. This monumental, unsupported vaulted roof stretches across a room that is 178 by 58 feet. In other words, it is just enormous.

Over the months I have watched while workers manually stripped the paint off of each strut (there are hundreds), and slowly renewed the wood. Now shiny new bolts are reinforcing this 32ft high expanse. More photos of this fascinating project can be found here.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can work together.

A magnificent window

Posted on September 27, 2018October 2, 2018 by carlotta

Brighton Corn Exchange window

Isn’t this beautiful? It is one of the windows at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange after refurbishment but still awaiting its many of panes of glass (I just counted space for 185 of them). I have repeatedly been drawn to photographing these huge windows while documenting the redevelopment of this beautiful 200-year-old building. They are magnificent in all their guises, even with broken panes and peeling paint, but to finally start to see them renewed is very pleasing indeed.

Cataloguing with my camera the changes that a building like this undergoes during renovation has many satisfying moments. I find a beauty in all stages of the process, the early messy broken phases through to the clean and ordered final stretch. This build still has a long way to go to completion, but it is offering up glimpses of how spectacular the finished product will be. More photographs of the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange can be found here.

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Vast space of the Brighton Corn Exchange

Posted on September 7, 2017June 1, 2018 by photograph

Vast space of the Brighton Corn Exchange

I have been photographing the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange redevelopment over the past few months. The Corn Exchange is a magnificent former riding house built for King George IV around 1805, when he was still the Prince of Wales. The room is 178 by 58 feet with a 34-foot high unsupported roof. I am listing these statistics because it can be hard to perceive quite how large this space is. To get an idea, if you search this photo carefully you might be able to spot the single tiny workman in the distance.

On my most recent visit I was taken onto the roof by way of the southern end of the building. As I climbed up each level of scaffolding, I attempted to photograph through very dusty old windows. I could see the spectacular view in front of me but I couldn’t get the shot. Finally, at the top of the central arched window I found a single broken pane of glass in the very middle of the building. This allowed me to get a clear shot of the entire room just below ceiling height. You can find more photographs from this project here.

Graves at the Brighton Dome

Posted on July 20, 2017June 1, 2018 by photograph

Graves at the Brighton Dome

I was called in at short notice to photograph a 200-year-old Quaker burial site discovered at the Brighton Dome during the redevelopment of the Corn Exchange. I made two visits to document the team from Archaeology South-East while they exhumed several of the 15 complete skeletons. The remains have now all been carefully lifted out and moved to an office where they will be cleaned and examined in detail. Decisions are still to be made about whether they will be reburied, cremated or stored for further study.

While that process sounds very clinical, the reality was an utmost care, respect and diligence shown by the archaeologists. It was a painstaking process to find and catalogue every bone from each grave. I was curious to know how it felt to hold a human skull and was told that the first time was definitely a strange experience. For the record, this was one of the most exciting shoots I have ever been on. More photographs from this shoot are here. More information about the burial site can be found here.

Tag: Corn Exchange