Appendix A: William John Dewitt Prouse (1877-1956): Biography

This appendix provides background material on William Prouse of Prouse and Wilson up to the time the University Senate Building was designed. The factual record suggests Prouse's life was experientially rich and unusual. He was a talented musician married to an even more talented musician, who travelled the world. He held partnerships in a string of significant architectural firms in early‐twentieth‐century New Zealand, and shareholdings in building development companies and in what appears to be pioneering ventures in motor camps in the Wellington region. 1940 was not only significant as the year that saw the design of the University Senate building ‐ but it was also the year that his wife Ava died. Helliwell states that c1941, Prouse was "feeling the advance of age and did little at the office," suggesting that his involvement in architecture lessened from this time.