William Pitt (Architect)

He died on 25 May 1918, at the age of 62, in Abbotsford. He was laid to rest at the St Kilda General Cemetery.

William Pitt was born on June 4, 1855, in Melbourne, Australia, to William Pitt, an artist and his wife, Jane. His parents had emigrated from Sunderland in England.

He grew up in the suburban neighbourhood of St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. He attended the Hofwyl School in St Kilda and later went to the George Henry Neighbour's college in Carlton.

He later relocated to the suburb of Abbotsford. In 1875, he commenced his understudy in the field of architecture.

In 1877, he worked on the renovation and re-opening of the renowned building, The Princess Theatre. This building had one of the first sliding roofs and ceiling in the world.

In 1879, he earned his first big break in the field of architecture, after he bagged a project to design the Melbourne Coffee Palace. This project also won him an award.

In 1883, he was offered the project to design the Gordon House apartments, which were located in Little Bourke Street, Melbourne. This was one of his first designs to fit into the gothic style genre.

In 1887, he was elected as the Vice-president of the Victorian Institute of Architects. This phase, proved to be a very successful for him and he had the freedom to experiment with all kinds of gothic styles.

In 1888, one of his most ambitious and large scale projects, The Federal Coffee Palace was constructed. At that time, this was one of Melbourne’s largest and tallest buildings. It was demolished in later years.

In 1880, he received the first prize for his design of the Queens Bridge, which was situated over the Yarra River.