Architects

Name:

(Sir) William Tite

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

02/07/1798

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

20/04/1873

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Bio Notes :

William Tite was born in London on 7 February 1798, the son of Arthur Tite, a wealthy merchant. He was articled to David Laing in 1812, admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in 1818 and was largely responsible for Laing's St Dunstan-in-the-East Church as early as 1817-20. His independent career took off with the commission to design Mill Hill School in 1825, and in 1832 he married an heiress, Emily Curtis. He was President of the Architectural Society in 1838 until it merged with the RIBA in 1842. For some years he was in partnership with Edward Norton Clifton after 1839 but the dates have not been clearly established.

Tite's Scottish practice arose mainly from his pioneering work as a railway architect. In July 1846 he offered his services to the Caledonian Railway, and his offer was accepted. He visited Glasgow on 14 October and produced a detailed report on what was required on 27 May 1847. Work proceeded on a number of stations, but of the two main termini, Dunlop Street, Glasgow was never built and at Lothian Road, Edinburgh only the train-shed was built in shortened form. As Tite's health failed, much of the work was carried out by his chief assistant Ebeneezer Trotman. Relations between the Caledonian Railway and Tite began to break down from January 1850 when Tite's fees amounted to £6,181 8s 3d of which £2,024 18s 6d had been paid and the Company was unable to meet the balance. Tite succeeded in obtaining his fees as a result of a Court of Session decision on 5 February 1851, but his Scottish practice was at an end.

Tite visited Italy in 1851-52 to recover his health. He gradually withdrew from practice and entered politics as Liberal MP for Bath from 1855. He was RIBA Gold Medallist in 1856 and President of the RIBA 1861-63 and again in 1867-69, his presidency ending with a knighthood. He died at Torquay 20 April 1873 leaving moveable estate of just under £400,000 ('I inherited a fortune, I married a fortune and I have made a fortune').

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From Char	Date From Type	Date To Char	Date To Type	Notes
42 Lowndes Square London England	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
7 East India Avenue London England	Business	1868

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
Tite & Clifton	203880	After 1839		Partner
David Laing	203878	In year 1812	In year 1820	Apprentice

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The following individuals were employed or trained by this person (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
Thomas Worthington	204271	In year 1847	In year 1848	Assistant

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This person proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Person	Date Proposed	Notes
Sydney Smirke	1844/04/29	for Fellowship

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	City or County	Country	Notes
Dollar Parish Church	In year 1840	Dollar	Clackmannanshire	Scotland
Southside Station	In year 1840	Gushetfaulds	Glasgow	Scotland
Caledonian Railway Station	In year 1846		Edinburgh	Scotland	Scheme drawn up - not executed except trainshed in shortened form
Dunlop Street Station	In year 1846		Glasgow	Scotland
Lockerbie Station	In year 1847	Lockerbie	Dumfriesshire	Scotland
Beattock station	In year 1847	Beattock	Dumfriesshire	Scotland
Perth Joint Station	In year 1848	Perth	Perthshire	Scotland	Design and beginning of construction
Kirknewton Station	In year 1848	Kirknewton	Midlothian	Scotland
Dunblane Station	In year 1848	Dunblane	Perthshire	Scotland
Ground at Leonard's Hall belonging to the Glovers' Corporation	In year 1849	Perth	Perthshire	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part
Briggs, M S	Sir William Tite MP, his life and work	1950	The Builder (2 part serial)
British Architectural Library, RIBA	Directory of British Architects 1834-1914	2001
Colvin, Howard	A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840	2008	London: YUP. 4th edition
APSD	The Dictionary of Architecture		The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892)	ed Wyatt Papworth
New DNB	New Dictionary of National Biography

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Builder	1873/05/03	*	Obituary
RIBA Proceedings	1874	*	p209-212
Builder	1950/01/13		Issue for 13-20 January 1950. Article by M S Briggs.

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

RIBA Proposals

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

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Periodical References

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