William Tite
Member of Parliament for Bath | |
---|---|
In office 5 June 1855 – 20 April 1873 | |
Preceded by | Thomas Phinn |
Succeeded by | Viscount Chelsea |
Personal details | |
Born | 7 February 1798 City of London, England |
Died | 20 April 1873 Torquay, Devon, England | (aged 75)
Political party | Liberal |
Sir William Tite from 1855 until his death.
Early life and career
Tite was born in the parish of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London,[2] in February 1798,[3] the son of a merchant in Russian goods named Arthur Tite.
He was articled to David Laing, architect of the new Custom House, and surveyor to the Parish of St Dunstan-in-the-East. Tite assisted Laing in the rebuilding of St Dunstan's church: according to an article published in the Architect in 1869, Tite entirely designed the new building, Laing himself having no knowledge of Gothic architecture.[2]
In 1827–8 Tite built the Scottish church in Regent Square,
Royal Exchange
The rebuilding of the
Railway stations
Tite was the architect for the Eastern Counties, London and Blackwall, Gravesend and South Western Railways, and in France those between Paris and Rouen and Rouen and Le Havre; an article in the Architect named the station at Rouen, spanning nearly ninety feet, as an example of his structural skill.[2] Tite designed many of the early railway stations in Britain, including:[3]
- The termini of the London and South Western Railway at Vauxhall (Nine Elms), Southampton Terminus, Gosport and Windsor Riverside
- The termini of the London and Blackwall Railway at Minories and Blackwall (1840)
- Carnforth, Carlisle Citadel and Lancaster Castle railway stations (1846–1847)
- The majority of the stations on the Caledonian and Scottish Central railways, including Edinburgh (1847–1848) (not built) and Perth (1847–1848)[6]
- Barnes, Barnes Bridge, Chiswick and Kew Bridge railway stations (1849)
- Stations between Yeovil and Exeter, including Axminster and the now-demolished Honiton.
His station at Carlisle was built in a neo-Tudor style with a frontage of about 400 feet, broken into several masses. At the centre of the façade was an arcade of five arches, with buttresses and pinnacles. The refreshment rooms had "an open timber roof, and oriels or bays, reminiscent of the dining-hall of olden times".[7]
Cemeteries
As a
Between 1853 and 1854, with Sydney Smirke, he landscaped Brookwood Cemetery near Woking in Surrey for the London Necropolis Company. Maintaining his associations with railways, this cemetery was served by a dedicated train service from
Between 1858 and 1859 he built a memorial church in the Byzantine style at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.[3]
Later life
Tite's active work as an architect ceased about twenty years before his death[3] (in recognition of his contributions, however, he was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1856).[9]
In 1851 he visited Italy after a grave illness. In 1854 he stood for parliament, unsuccessfully contesting
He was a director of the
He died on 20 April 1873 at Torquay and was interred in the catacombs of his South Metropolitan Cemetery.[11] Tite Street, which runs north-west from London's Chelsea Embankment, is named after him. Tite was a member of the Metropolitan Board of Works, largely responsible for the construction of Chelsea Embankment.[citation needed]
Gallery of architectural work
-
Royal Exchange, London
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Aerial View, Royal Exchange, London
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Portico, Royal Exchange, London
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Gothic entrance, West Norwood Cemetery
Notes
- ^ Goold, David. "Dictionary of Scottish Architects - DSA Architect Biography Report (November 14, 2018, 3:01 pm)". www.scottisharchitects.org.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "Sir William Tite M.P." The Architect. 2: 27–8. 1869.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Chisholm 1911, p. 1019.
- ^ "National Scotch Church". UCL Bloomsbury Project. University College London. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- ISBN 0-486-41534-1. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
- ISBN 1873190123.
- ^ The British Almanac. 1849. p. 247.
- ^ English Heritage The Register of Parks and Gardens: Cemeteries: "West Norwood (South Metropolitan Cemetery, 1837) saw the first cemetery buildings erected in the Gothic style (these being by William Tite) and from this point, Gothic Revival began to challenge Neo-Greek as the dominant style. By the mid 19th century, it was generally accepted that Gothic was the correct style for a Christian cemetery and for the latter part of the century onwards the great majority of cemetery buildings were in this manner"
- ISBN 978-0-9675477-9-4.
- ^ "King's College London Act 1997".
- ^ Obituary, The Architect, 26 April 1873, p. 225.
References
- S. P. Parissien Tite, Sir William (1798–1873) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(subscription needed)
Attribution:
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Tite, Sir William". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1019. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Tite
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- 41 Lothbury, London & Westminster Bank building, now refurbished as serviced offices
- Friend of West Norwood Cemetery
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Tite