Sir William Tite, CB (February 1798 – 20 April 1873) was an English architect who served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was particularly associated with various London buildings, with railway stations and cemetery projects.

The son of a Russian merchant, Tite was born in London in February 1798. From 1817 to 1820 he assisted David Laing in rebuilding the church of St Dunstan-in-the-East in the City of London, and in compiling its history. Between 1827 and 1828 he built the Scottish church at Regent Square in St Pancras, London, for Edward Irving, and ten years later collaborated with Charles Robert Cockerell in designing the London & Westminster Bank head office in Lothbury, also in the City.

However, the rebuilding of the Royal Exchange, opened in 1844, was Tite's greatest undertaking.

He also designed many of the early railway stations in Britain, including:

• 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 station, and Carlisle Citadel station (1847–1848)
• The majority of the stations on the Caledonian and Scottish Central railways, including Edinburgh (1847–1848) and Perth (1847–1848)
• Barnes, Barnes Bridge, Chiswick and Kew Bridge railway stations (1849)
• Stations between Yeovil and Exeter, including Axminster and the now-demolished Honiton

Overseas, the railway stations on the line from Le Havre to Paris in France are also his work.

As a company director of the South Metropolitan Cemetery Company he laid out his first cemetery at Norwood in 1836 and designed several significant monuments and chapels there. Whereas previous cemetery designs had followed a classical style, Tite's design was the first to employ the Gothic revival alongside landscaping, which was subsequently judged to be the archetype for future cemeteries.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 line from London Necropolis railway station, next to Waterloo station, in central London.

Between 1858 and 1859 he built a memorial church in the Byzantine style at Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.

Tite's active work ceased about twenty years before his death (in recognition of his contributions, however, he was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1856).

In 1851 he visited Italy after a grave illness. In 1854 he contested Barnstaple unsuccessfully as a Liberal, but in the following year was returned as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath, which he represented until his death. He keenly opposed Sir George Gilbert Scott's proposal to build the new Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other government buildings adjacent to HM Treasury in Whitehall in the Gothic style. In 1869 he was knighted, and in 1870 was made a Companion of the Bath. Tite had a wide knowledge of English literature and was a good linguist; he was an active citizen and a lover of old books.

He died on 20 April, 1873 and was laid to rest in the catacombs of his South Metropolitan Cemetery. 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.

According to family lore, he had a son named Henry Tite , who was disowned after a severe disagreement with William. He attempted to erase any mention of his son’s name so nobody would know of Henry. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any evidence to support the claim that William had a son, let alone disowned him.

References

• S. P. Parissien Tite, Sir William (1798–1873) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (subscription needed)

External links

• 41 Lothbury, London & Westminster Bank building, now refurbished as serviced offices
• Friend of West Norwood Cemetery