John Wittet was born in Dunbarney, Perthshire, Scotland on 5 February 1868 and was articled to David Smart (1824-1914) in Perth from 1882 to 1888. He then worked as an assistant to Hippolyte Jean Blanc (1844-1917) in Edinburgh from 1888 to 1892; to William Clarke (1809-1889), George Bell (1814-1887) and George Bell (1854-1915) of Clarke & Vell in Glasgow in 1892; and to Alexander Reid (1816?-1897) and William Reid (1825-1893) of A. & W. Reid in Elgin in 1892-93. He also attended Edinburgh School of Art and Heriot Watt College in Edinburgh from 1888 to 1892.
Wittet commenced independent practice as an architect in Elgin in 1893 and that year joined A. & W. Reid to form A. & W. Reid & Wittet.. The partnership was dissolved in 1903 and Wittet then worked alone until 1928 when he took his son William Wittet (1901-1990) into partnership as J & W Wittet in Elgin. During the 1930s and 1940s they also had an office on the Isle of Skye.
John Wittet was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1912 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1927. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (FRIAS) and a member of the Inverness Architectural Association and its President. He died in Bridge of Earn, Perthshire on 18 March 1952.
Elgin and Inverness Academy additions, and principal schools in Morayshire. Mansion Houses: Altyre. for Sir William Gordon Cumming; Ardgye. for G. R. Mackessack, Convenor of Morayshire; Carnack, for the Hon. D. H. Calms. Churches: at Burghead, Pluscarden, and Dunbarney. War Memorials: Cullen, Deskford, Rothes, Aberlour, Tomintoul. Glenlivet, Craigellachie, Alves, Lhanbryde, Kellas, Dallas, Rofford, Kyle of Lochalsh. Portree, Garmouth, and Ladyhill, Elgin. Estate Works: for the late Duke of Fife's Trustees, the Earl of Cawdor, Sir William Gordon Cumming, Sir Archibald Dunbar, the Trustees of the Countess of Seafield, and the Earl of Moray.
For a detailed list of architectural projects by John Wittet see the Dictionary of Scottish Architects 1660-1980
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001