View of Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, looking north-west to York Road. In the foreground is a pedestrian subway under Lambeth Palace Road. The construction site of a roundabout which would enclose the Island Block extension of County Hall. Built in the 1970s and designed by John Bancroft as an annexe to the main County Hall which was opened in 1922 as the headquarters of the London County Council, later the Greater London Council. An early example of open-plan office space, the block was enclosed by a roundabout and could only be accessed from the outside by pedestrian subways. The building was inhabited for twelve years before the Greater London Council was abolished in 1986 and the Island Block was abandoned. It lay empty for twenty years before being demolished in 2006 to make way for the 14-storey Westminster Bridge Park Plaza hotel. Beyond the roundabout is the six-storey South Block of County Hall, built by Higgs and Hill between 1936 and 1939, as an addition to the main County Hall which was opened in 1922 as the headquarters of the London County Council, later the Greater London Council. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986 and the building is now used for a hotel, restaurants, exhibitions and tourist attractions. On the corner of York Road and Addington Street is The General Lying in Hospital, one of the first maternity hospitals in Great Britain. Founded by Dr John Leake in 1767 as the Westminster New Lying-In Hospital, it moved to this site in 1828. As the stonework frieze states, the name ‘Westminster’ was dropped from the title at this time and the institution was incorporated by royal charter in 1830 as ‘The General Lying-in Hospital. Antisepsis pioneer Lord Joseph Lister was a consulting surgeon and President. The building sustained some damage in World War II but was reopened in 1946 until it eventually closed in 1971. The building remains the property of Guys and St Thomas' NHS Trust and is Grade II listed, entry 1357956. On the roundabout is an ambulance and a Black Cab heading towards Westminster Bridge.