It now became necessary to build a large hall; the iron room was too small for the conferences, the church too small for the congregation, and the missions had outgrown the capacity of the mission room. When the plan for a new building was made known money came in unsolicited from various sources. The undertaking was pushed rapidly forward, and in October, 1870, the hall was opened. It will seat 2,500 people, having a platform at the west end, and a gallery running around the sides and east end. Thanksgiving and prayer were built into the walls from the very foundation; and before the basement rooms were cleared of rubbish, or the floor laid, a prayer-meeting was held to ask for a blessing upon the future undertakings of the mission. The basement was divided into five rooms, to be used for night-schools and other agencies for the benefit of the poor. Adjoining the hall, at the west end, was built the deaconess house. From his home near by Mr. Pennefather had watched the completion of the work with great interest. In one of his letters he says:[68] "Sometimes I can scarcely believe that it is a reality, and not all a dream--the Conference Hall, with its appendages, and the deaconess house actually in existence. May the Holy Spirit fill the place, and may he make it a center from whence the living waters shall flow forth." From a letter written to one of these deaconesses, we gain his opinion as to the need of deaconesses, and what was his ideal of a Home.[69] "The need for such an institution is great indeed. I do not suppose there was ever a time in the history of Christianity in which the openings for holy, disciplined, intelligent women to labor in God's vineyard were so numerous as at present. The population in towns and rural districts are waiting for the patient and enduring love that dwells in the breast of a truly pious woman, to wake them up to thought and feeling. O! if I had the women and had the means, how gladly would I send out hundreds, two by two, to carry the river of truth into the hamlets of our country, and the streets and lanes of our great cities. Will you pray for the Home? Ask for women and for means. I want our Home to be such a place of holy, peaceful memories that, when you leave it, it may be among the brightest things that come to your mind in a distant land, or in a different position; and each inmate can help to make it what it should be." But Mr. Pennefather did not live to see the great extension in usefulness and importance that the Deaconess Home was to obtain in later years. He passed away from life April 28, 1873, leaving to his wife, who had ever been his sympathetic and devoted helper, the care of continuing the work he had begun. She is still the head of the Mildmay Institutions, assisted by a resident superintendent, and aided by the counsels of wise, experienced men, who form the board of trustees.