Background
Bagot was born in North Adelaide, the son of pastoralist John Bagot Master of Health Administration, and Lucy Josephine Ayers. His grandfathers were Charles Hervey Bagot and Sir Henry Ayers He was educated at the Collegiate School of Street Peter and apprenticed to the architect E. J. Woods for four years.
Career
He was one of the last great proponents of the traditional school of South Australian architecture, and remained unconvinced by Modernism. He founded Woods & Bagot in 1905. In 1905 he returned to Adelaide and formed the firm of Woods & Bagot (later Woods, Bagot, Laybourne-Smith & Irwin).
He purchased the McMinn-designed Waterhouse House on North Terrace in 1906, selling it in 1926.
They lived at "Forest Lodge", a house near Aldgate built by Walter Bagot"s father, John Bagot. The couple had three children.