At the east end of the bridge, on the north, is the London County Hall, the headquarters of the London County Council. This huge Renaissance edifice (1912-22), designed by Ralph Knott, working in conjunction with W. E. Riley, and erected at a cost of over �3,000,000, has a river facade 700 feet in length (north wing unfinished), a notable feature of which is the semicircular central recess breaking the long roof-line. The sculptured groups with which it is embellished are by Ernest Cole. The equally fine east front in Belvedere Road, in which is the public entrance, cannot be properly seen owing to the narrowness of the street. The members' entrance is in Westminster Bridge Road.
The public is admitted to sessions of the Council on Tuesday at 2.30 p.m. On Saturday (10.30-12 and 1.30-3.30) and on summer Bank Holidays (10.30-12 and 1.30-4.30) parties are conducted round the interior (descriptive guide, 3d.). Among the rooms shown are several oak-panelled Committee Rooms, one with a mantelpiece of 1752 from a demolished house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, the Library, valuable to students of the topography and local government of London (admission daily 9.30-5, Saturday 9.30-12.30 on application to the Clerk of the Council), and the octagonal Council Clumber, richly decorated with marbles, with room for 200 councillors. The oak used for the Chairman's and Deputy Chairmen's seats was found circa 35 feet below the level of Villiers St., Westminster.
