(1876 - 1937)

Griffin was born in Maywood near Chicago, and attended the University of Illinois where he graduated in architecture in 1899, and often cited one of his influences as Louis H Sullivan whose philosophy was "form follows function".

In 1911, as a member of the prestigious Prairie School practice, he married Marion Lucy Mahony, a graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1894) and a talented draughtswoman who helped Walter win the contract for the design of the Australian Federal Capital in Canberra in 1910.

Griffin's design proposed a Capitol building which would be the centrepoint of a triangular group of buildings, standing parallel to an artificial lake. In order to oversee this project, Griffin was appointed as a part time federal capital director of design and construction in 1913 - a post he would hold until 1920.

The plan was revised four times before the "Griffin Plan" was finally accepted in 1925. Griffin owned architectural practices in Chicago, Melbourne and Sydney, and he created many more fine buildings including Newman College (1917) at the University of Melbourne and the Capitol Theatre (1924) in the same city. He also received many commissions for the development of towns such as Leeton, Griffith and the Sydney suburbs of Castlecrag and Castle Cove.

He migrated to India in 1936 and died a year later.

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