Philip John Turner (1876 – 13 August 1943) was an architect and educator from Stowmarket, Suffolk. After emigrating to Canada in 1906, he began a private architectural practice in Montreal, and in 1910 became a lecturer at the McGill School of Architecture, where he would teach for more than three decades. He became the director of the School in 1939 and opened the door to co-ed education while also fighting the threat of the School's closing due to low enrollment after the Great Depression and amidst World War II.
As an architect, Turner designed many types of buildings, including residences, churches, banks, libraries and commercial buildings. He served on the council of the Province of Quebec Association of Architects (PQAA) and became president in 1933. He received the Gold Medal of the PQAA in 1941. He also served on the council of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, where he represented the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and Senior Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
Personal life and education Philip Turner was born in Stowmarket, Suffolk in 1876 to a large family of many sisters and brothers. He attended Framlingham College in Suffolk for secondary education and the Architectural Association School of Architecture for post-secondary education. He articled to John Shewell Corder from 1892 to 1895 and was his assistant from 1895 to 1898. He was the assistant to Francis William Tasker in 1898, James Ransome from 1899 to 1900 and to Charles Barry Edward from 1901 to 1907. He passed his architectural exam in 1900. He married Adeline Peddar in June 1910. Turner died from a heart attack on August 13, 1943, two years after he retired from being director at McGill's School of Architecture.
Teaching career Turner emigrated to Canada in 1906, and joined the McGill School of Architecture's faculty in 1910, where he first taught a lecture on Building Construction. He soon began to also teach Materials of Construction, Professional Practice and Specifications, and was appointed Professor in 1933. In addition to teaching at the School of Architecture, Turner was appointed Special Lecturer on Library Buildings in 1926 in the McGill Library School, which he continued to hold until after his retirement from the architecture school. In 1939, he succeeded Ramsay Traquair as the director of the School of Architecture, a position he held for only two years until 1941. During these two years, however, he accomplished a great deal at the School. Turner became director at a time when student enrollment was very low, in the wake of the Great Depression in Canada and the outbreak of World War II. Enrollment was so low that the Principal of McGill at the time, Lewis Williams Douglas considered phasing out architectural education at McGill. As director, Turner, along with his Executive Secretary, John Bland, fought the threat of the School's closing and gathered the support of several distinguished architects in Montreal, ultimately convincing the Principal not to close the School. He created an advisory committee on the School of Architecture in 1939, with E.I. Barott, Harold Lea Fetherstonhaugh and J.C. McDougal representing the profession, and he and Percy Nobbs representing the School.
Turner also opened the door to co-ed education at the School of Architecture, which had not yet been done at any department within the Faculty of Engineering at McGill. In 1943, two years after Turner retired as director, Catherine Mary Wisnicki became the School's first female graduate and the first female graduate from the Faculty of Engineering.
Philip Turner's health was quite frail by the time he became director of the School, and in the following year it had deteriorated so much that he entrusted the directorship to his Executive Secretary, John Bland, who became the new director in 1941, though they continued to work together for the remainder of that year. Two years after his retirement, Turner died from a heart attack. The Philip J. Turner Prize was established in his memory at the School, and is presented to the student with the highest standing in the studio course, Design and Construction 2.
Architectural career Turner designed many types of buildings throughout his career, ranging from residences to churches, toward the end of his career. He began an independent practice in Stowmarket, Suffolk in 1900, and again in 1908 in Montreal, Quebec. Much of his architectural work between 1900 and his death in 1943 was through his own practice, however he worked in partnership with William Edward Carless from 1913 to 1915, as well as with Samuel Herbert Maw.
+List of Built ProjectsYearProjectLocation1903Stowmarket Co-Operative SocietyStowmarket, England1908-09Residence for an unidentified client Westmount, Quebec1909Residence for Reginald H. BuchananWestmount, Quebec1909Residence for John S. WithellMount Royal Ward, Westmount, Quebec1909Residence for Henry Goodchild Birch Avenue, Saint Lambert, Quebec1909Residence for J.A. GoldieFront Street, Saint Lambert, Quebec1909-10Chateau Beauclaire HotelMercille Street, Saint Lambert, Quebec1909Block of shops and flats for Sir Thomas ShaughnessyNotre Dame Street East, at Maisonneuve Street, Montreal1910Ice Palace for the Winter CarnivalMontreal1910Residence for H.S. ThomasOutremont, Quebec1910Residences for James Bryce and William AgnewCedar Avenue, Montreal1910Printing office for Emmerson G. HartSaint Lambert, Quebec1911St. Alban's Anglican ChurchSt. Zotique Street East near Alma Avenue, Montreal1911Timmins Co. Ltd. factoryMount Royal Avenue at Clarke Street, Montreal1911Molson's BankNotre Dame Street at Sixth Avenue, Lachine, Quebec1911Molson's BankSainte-Thérèse, Quebec1911Residence for M. Scarth StevensonWestmount, Quebec1911Residence for George McCowanMaplewood Avenue, Montreal1911Molson's BankPark Avenue at Bernard Avenue, Montreal1912Residence for Mrs. John ArchibaldSherbrooke Street West at Elm Avenue, Montreal1912Dupuis Bros. Ltd., large annex to department storeSte. Catherine Street East at St. Andre Street, Montreal1912Molson's BankDrummondville, Quebec1913Molson's BankCumberland Street at Park Avenue, Port Arthur, Ontario1913Pair of houses for E. Fabre-SurveyerMaplewood Avenue, Outremont1914Molson's BankFrankford, Ontario1914Molson's BankCowansville, Quebec1914Residence for Howard MurrayBelvedere Road, Westmount, Quebec1914Home Bank of CanadaMontreal1914Residence for Miss. F. KruseSainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec1914Residence for Irving P. RexfordMontrose Avenue, Westmount1914Residence for John IrwinRosemont Avenue, Westmount1914Residence for Edward OuelletteAinslie Avenue, Outremont1914Residence for Rodolphe TourvilleAinslie Avenue, Outremont1914Residence for W.E. MowatCarleton Avenue, Westmount1914Residence for Miss ElliottCarleton Avenue, Westmount1914Residence for Mrs. William NorrisOutremont1914Residence for F. Charles SkeltonChomedey Street, at Comte Street, Montreal1914House at Lake St.-Louis for an unidentified clientBeaurepaire, Quebec1914Molson's BankSt. Laurent Boulevard at Ontario Street, Montreal1914Molson's Bank Norwich, Ontario1914Molson's BankSorel, Quebec1917Summer residence for M. Scarth StevensonPoint Cavagnol, Como, Quebec1918Molson's BankWilliamsburg, Ontario1920Molson's BankBedford, Quebec1920Molson's BankKing Street, Kitchener, Ontario1920Molson's BankTalbot Street at Flora Street, St. Thomas, Ontario1920Molson's BankAyr, Ontario1920Molson's BankMarket Square, Hamilton, Ontario1920Montreal Sailor's InstitutePlace Royale at Capitol Street, Montreal 1921Residence for H. Grimsdale, Wiseman AvenueWiseman Avenue, Outremont1921Bethany Presbyterian ChurchCharlevoix Street at Rushbrooke Street, Montreal1922Pair of houses for Irving P. RexfordMontrose Avenue, Westmount, Quebec1923Molson's BankRiviere-du-Loup, Quebec1923Residence for William GearAvenue Road, Westmount, Quebec1923Christ Church Anglican CathedralSte. Catherine Street West at Union Avenue, Montreal1913St. Cuthbert's Anglican ChurchOgilvy Avenue at Outremont Avenue, Montreal1924Crown Trust LTD.St. James Street, Montreal1927-28St. Columba Anglican Church (Parish Hall)Hingston Avenue, Montreal1928St. Paul's Anglican ChurchEmpire Street, Greenfield Park1928St. Saviour's Anglican ChurchWestern Avenue at Regent Avenue, Montreal1928Julia Drummond HostelMark Street at Bayle Street, Montreal1929St. Philip's Anglican Church (with Samuel H. Maw)Brock Avenue, Montreal1936Remodelling of the Westmount Public LibrarySherbrooke Street West at Arlington Avenue, Montreal1939Union ChurchLac Marois, Quebec1940YMCA Chapel and libraryDrummond Street, Montreal
See also Percy Nobbs Stewart Henbest Capper
References