which run between Briggate and Vicar Lane. Matcham's buildings include 49–51 Vicar Lane; 2–24 King Edward Street and 115–120 Briggate, which consists of shops and offices within the County Arcade development. The construction costs of the County Arcade were in excess of £300,000. According to Walker, Matcham's biographer, the architect took on the designs for the County Arcade either because of a decline in the need for new theatres, or an attempt to try out something different. Either way, Walker considered the project to be completely out of character for Matcham who had previously displayed such energy and enthusiasm for all his designs. Together with a few public houses in London, Matcham's other non-theatrical commissions include a new wing for the Royal Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund at Brinsworth House and a printing works in Southwark. Retirement and death In 1910 the London Palladium was completed and opened on 26 December. Designs for the Victoria Palace Theatre, for the variety magnate Alfred Butt, were already under way; it opened the following November. During the design stage of the Palace, Matcham was working alongside Bertie Crewe for a new Hippodrome in Bristol which was to become Matcham's last major design. The inter-war period was slow for theatrical architects and builders, mainly because of the introduction of cinema, and many of the theatres that had been designed in Matcham's office were now becoming picture houses. Matcham & Co.'s projects had started to slow down by 1913; that year, the only theatrical venture was the Palace Theatre, in Leicester. Matcham retired to Westcliff-on-Sea with his wife shortly before the First World War and left the running of the business to Chancellor and Briggs. He died at his house, 28 Westcliff Parade, on 17 May 1920. His death was attributed to blood poisoning, brought about from cutting his finger nails too short. The funeral took place at St. Paul's Church, Finchley, before his interment in the family vault in Highgate Cemetery. He left an estate worth £86,389 (£ in adjusted for inflation). Matcham bequeathed his company, equally, to Briggs and Chancellor. A journalist for The Architect newspaper predicted that the business would continue, which it did, although it never achieved the same success as it did under Matcham. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Chancellor retired and moved to the countryside, where he died in 1941. Briggs held the business in a dormant