Rupert Minnett

Rupert Villiers Minnett (2 September 1884 – 24 June 1974) was an Australian architect and sportsman.

Early life and education Rupert Villiers Minnett was born on 2 September 1884 He was the son of John Alma Villiers and Ellen Minnett, who lived at Nengah, Merlin Street, North Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales. The house has since been demolished.

He grew up in a comfortable upper middle-class household in an area where many men belonged to exclusive men's and sporting clubs, such as the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. John Villiers was a founding member of the Automobile Club of Australia, and both Rupert and his father were featured in "Sydneyites as we see 'em", a series of caricatures of well-known people published by the Newspaper Cartoonists Association between 1913 and 1915.

Spain, Cosh & Minnett designed Sydney's first skyscraper, Culwulla Chambers, on the corner of King Street and Castlereagh Street, its 14 storeys reaching a height of when completed in 1912. This became Australia's tallest building, and resulted in public controversy, leading to the Height of Buildings Act 1912, to limit the height of future buildings to ). Minnett co-designed the New Zealand Insurance building in Pitt Street, the headquarters for his father's company.

His two other brothers, Leslie and Roy, both played for New South Wales.

Personal life Minnett married Effie Coral Maddrell (1894–1942) in 1917, and they had a daughter, Mary (Mimi) Minnett (born 1918)