are the finest Victorian era theatre interiors to survive in Australia (the auditorium itself was replaced in 1922). Perhaps following this success, in 1887, Pitt was appointed vice-president of the Victorian Institute of Architects. His largest and most ambitious commission followed soon after, the Federal Coffee Palace at the south-west corner of King Street and Collins Street. While he received a second prize for his design, he was allowed to collaborate with the winners, Ellerker & Kilburn and the result was a composite design. The massive elaborate building synthesises Renaissance revival, French Second Empire and French Renaissance elements and was both hailed and criticised for its extraordinary ebullience. Completed in 1888, the enormous building later came to epitomise the speculative land boom which was "Marvellous Melbourne" of the late 1880s. Pitt could produce equally elaborate work in variations of the Gothic revival style. The Flemish Gothic Olderfleet (1888) and the Venetian Gothic Rialto Buildings (1889) a few doors down in Collins Street are essential elements of the Rialto group, the most elaborate and cohesive commercial Victorian Streetscape in Melbourne. His other greatest work in Collins Street is the lavishly detailed Gothic Revival Stock Exchange (1888), complete with rose window, spire and vaulted 'Cathedral Room' on the ground floor. In 1890, he added the Gothic Revival Safe Deposit Building around the corner on Queen Street. His polychromatic design of the very long, 3 storeys high Denton Hat Mills (1888) in Abbotsford, Victoria began his specialisation in industrial design. He also designed Brunswick Town Hall in 1889. Tower House (1891), once a landmark on the corners of Spring and Flinders Streets, was a fairly standard Italianate body, topped by a steeply pitched Gothic roof and spiky corner tower with a witches hat roof. One of his rare residential commissions was Collendina, near Corowa NSW, built for Henry Hay Esq. in 1891, dominated by an elaborate double level cast-iron verandah. In 1892, he showed his passionate support for the Collingwood Football Club by designing a grandstand for Victoria Park for free. Like so many others, Pitt suffered a massive financial setback during the financial crisis of 1893. Not only did he lose commissions as building work practically ceased, but other investments failed. He kept his practice going however, and began a second career, designing a range of building types in the then fashionable styles, specialising in theatre and industrial projects. He is responsible