of £43,494 (about £ in terms of consumer spending power) excluding the cost of the land. While construction was underway the original terminus remained in use, although the LSWR was granted running rights through the station. On 23 February Major J. W. Pringle of the Board of Trade inspected the new building and expressed concerns over the safety of the arrangements for trains entering the station from the main line, which entailed crossing the LSWR's multiple tracks. He was also unhappy about the newly installed passenger lifts and the unfinished nature of the passenger terminus, but nonetheless approved the limited use of the new station for funeral trains. Soon after the transfer of LNC services to the new building the LSWR viaduct was widened to serve a greatly enlarged Waterloo station, destroying all traces of the original LNC terminus. The new building, also designed by Cyril Bazett Tubbs, was designed for attractiveness and modernity to contrast with the traditional gloomy decor associated with the funeral industry. A narrow four-storey office building stood at 188 Westminster Bridge Road. The ground floor was taken up by a large arch leading to a waiting room, an office for general enquiries, and the long driveway leading to the station itself; above this were the LNC's offices and boardrooms. First class mourners entered through the driveway under the office building which turned sharply left to run beneath a glass canopy parallel to Westminster Bridge Road; this stretch was faced with glazed white brick and lined with palm and bay trees. The driveway ran past mortuaries and storerooms to the lifts and stairs to the platforms, and also to a secondary entrance on Newnham Terrace (off Hercules Road). Above the mortuaries and storerooms were the LNC's workshops. Lifts and an elaborate wrought-iron staircase led from the lower two floors to platform level on the second floor. This upper level housed a sumptuous oak-panelled Chapelle Ardente, intended for mourners unable to make the journey to Brookwood to pay their respects to the deceased. A short and wide pathway led to the first class platform, lined with waiting rooms and a ticket office; the first class platform was equipped with five separate waiting rooms to keep mourners from different funeral parties separate. A glass screen separated the first class platform and circulating area from the platform and circulating area for third class passengers. The third class section was