William Pitt (architect)

William Pitt (1855-1918) was an architect and politician working in Melbourne, Australia in the later part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Architect Career

He began his architectural practice in 1879 and he became highly sought after during the land boom in Melbourne, particularly for his theatres.

Although many of his buildings have since been demolished, including one of his earliest and grandest buidlings, the Melbourne Coffee Palace (1879), many of his buildings remain today.

Surviving examples include the gothic revival Olderfleet (1888) and Rialto Buildings (1889) in Collins Street. Although only retaining the front 10 metres, they with the neighbouring South Australian Insurance Building and Charles D'Ebro'sWinfield Building make up Melbourne's, and one of the world's, finest intact Victorian streetscapes. Also in this style are the Old Stock Exchange (1888) and Old Safe Deposit Building (1890).

Few of Pitt's theatres remain. His greatest, the Princess Theatre (1886) in the Second Empire style, in Spring Street has survived. Unique in its time in having a sliding roof it fell into disrepair and was nearly demolished. The theatre received a lavish renovation in the early 1990s.

The pinnacle of Pitt's career was the Federal Coffee Palace constructed on the south-west corner of King and Collins Streets in 1888. This extraordinary building more than any other epitomised the speculative land boom which was 'Marvellous Melbourne' of the 1880s. A massive and outlandish building with references to numerous architectural styles it grew from the temperance movement of the day which also produced the equally large but somewhat more restrained Grand Hotel, now the Windsor Hotel, in Spring Street. The temperence movement fell out of favour in the 1890s and the Federal Coffee Palace became the Federal Hotel. The hotel was ultimately demolished in 1973 in an era when many Victorian buildings were lost in a wave of 'modernisation'.

Pitt's roots were in the suburb of St Kilda, he lived and was educated there for some time and one of his finest contributions and surviving works, the St Kilda Town Hall is one of the landmarks of the area.

Politics & Architecture

Pitt continued to work into the twentieth century while also pursuing a political career. He was mayor of the City of Collingwood and also a member of the Victorian legislative council, and was a staunch advocate of the Federation of Australia. Most notable of his later work was the Empire Works (1909) in inner suburban Richmond. This was later bought and expanded by Bryant and May to become the home of the iconic Redheads match. He also designed the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel, which remains on the corner of Spencer and Flinders Streets as a backpacker hotel.