Study Room Name Series: 5. Exchange Street
If you’ve ever wandered through the middle floor and spotted the Exchange Street study area, you might have paused for a second and thought: where exactly is this Exchange?
Fair question.
To most modern Dundonians, the name is a bit of a puzzle. There’s no obvious Exchange now sitting between Castle Street and Commercial Street to justify it. But, like many things in Dundee, there’s a good story behind it.
Where it all started
Back in the seventeenth century (around 1650), Dundee’s merchants didn’t have a grand building to meet in. Business was done in the Green Market — an area that’s now absorbed into the site of the Caird Hall. The meeting place was known as “The Merchant’s Walk”.
By 1778, things had progressed a bit. After the opening of the Trades Hall at the east end of the High Street, merchants rented the principal apartment and established what became known as “The Dundee Exchange Coffee-room and Reading-room”. It was part business hub, part social space, part intellectual corner of the city.
However, the room was often taken over for theatrical performances and lectures. Not ideal if you’re trying to get a deal signed. So in 1805, the merchants decided to build something of their own. Subscriptions were raised, and two years later a new Exchange opened on the south side of what was then a fairly rough footpath running from Castle Street to the Burnhead.
In 1809, a library was added to the Coffee-room — a significant moment in Dundee’s cultural life.
Growth, generosity and a street is born
The building didn’t stay modest for long. In 1828, plans were approved for an extension designed by George Smith of Edinburgh. The new principal hall measured an impressive 73 feet by 36 feet, with shops below. The official opening in 1830 was meant to be marked by a grand ball (later adjusted to a dinner and ball — arguably even better).
By 1838, the Exchange Coffee-room subscribers were doing well enough to donate surplus funds to the Royal Infirmary and the Orphan Institution. Not a bad legacy.
Ten years earlier, in 1828, the Town Council had arranged to form a new 40-foot-wide street from the Burnhead to the foot of Castle Street. That decision gave us Exchange Street.
Later, in 1859, the present Royal Exchange was built on the north side of the meadows (now Albert Square), giving its name to Royal Exchange Court. Commercial Street was also laid out in part to improve access to Exchange Street.
So the name isn’t random. It’s rooted in trade, reading, meeting, debate — and Dundee shaping its own future.
Exchange Street – on the Middle Floor of the Main Library
Our Exchange Street study area is a small, deliberate nod to that history.
You’ll find 7 study areas, open booths and group study spaces.
It’s a space for meeting, thinking, discussing, planning — not wildly different in spirit from the original Exchange Coffee-room. No merchants negotiating jute contracts (hopefully), but plenty of ideas being shaped.
If you haven’t used it yet, have a look next time you’re in. It’s a good spot to get your head down or work through something as a team — and now you know why it’s called what it’s called.
With thanks to A.H. Millar, ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ (January 1925), and to the Dundee Leisure & Culture Streetwise website for the historical background that inspired this piece.
