# Philip J. Turner

Philip John Turner FRIBA FRAIC (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 passed away 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 passed away 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 Projects :
| Year | Project | Location |
| 1903 | Stowmarket Co-Operative Society | Stowmarket, England |
| 1908-09 | Residence for an unidentified client | Westmount, Quebec |
| 1909 | Residence for Reginald H. Buchanan | Westmount, Quebec |
| 1909 | Residence for John S. Withell | Mount Royal Ward, Westmount, Quebec |
| 1909 | Residence for Henry Goodchild | Birch Avenue, Saint Lambert, Quebec |
| 1909 | Residence for J.A. Goldie | Front Street, Saint Lambert, Quebec |
| 1909-10 | Chateau Beauclaire Hotel | Mercille Street, Saint Lambert, Quebec |
| 1909 | Block of shops and flats for Sir Thomas Shaughnessy | Notre Dame Street East, at Maisonneuve Street, Montreal |
| 1910 | Ice Palace for the Winter Carnival | Montreal |
| 1910 | Residence for H.S. Thomas | Outremont, Quebec |
| 1910 | Residences for James Bryce and William Agnew | Cedar Avenue, Montreal |
| 1910 | Printing office for Emmerson G. Hart | Saint Lambert, Quebec |
| 1911 | St. Alban's Anglican Church | St. Zotique Street East near Alma Avenue, Montreal |
| 1911 | Timmins Co. Ltd. factory | Mount Royal Avenue at Clarke Street, Montreal |
| 1911 | Molson's Bank | Notre Dame Street at Sixth Avenue, Lachine, Quebec |
| 1911 | Molson's Bank | Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec |
| 1911 | Residence for M. Scarth Stevenson | Westmount, Quebec |
| 1911 | Residence for George McCowan | Maplewood Avenue, Montreal |
| 1911 | Molson's Bank | Park Avenue at Bernard Avenue, Montreal |
| 1912 | Residence for Mrs. John Archibald | Sherbrooke Street West at Elm Avenue, Montreal |
| 1912 | Dupuis Bros. Ltd., large annex to department store | Ste. Catherine Street East at St. Andre Street, Montreal |
| 1912 | Molson's Bank | Drummondville, Quebec |
| 1913 | Molson's Bank | Cumberland Street at Park Avenue, Port Arthur, Ontario |
| 1913 | Pair of houses for E. Fabre-Surveyer | Maplewood Avenue, Outremont |
| 1914 | Molson's Bank | Frankford, Ontario |
| 1914 | Molson's Bank | Cowansville, Quebec |
| 1914 | Residence for Howard Murray | Belvedere Road, Westmount, Quebec |
| 1914 | Home Bank of Canada | Montreal |
| 1914 | Residence for Miss. F. Kruse | Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec |
| 1914 | Residence for Irving P. Rexford | Montrose Avenue, Westmount |
| 1914 | Residence for John Irwin | Rosemont Avenue, Westmount |
| 1914 | Residence for Edward Ouellette | Ainslie Avenue, Outremont |
| 1914 | Residence for Rodolphe Tourville | Ainslie Avenue, Outremont |
| 1914 | Residence for W.E. Mowat | Carleton Avenue, Westmount |
| 1914 | Residence for Miss Elliott | Carleton Avenue, Westmount |
| 1914 | Residence for Mrs. William Norris | Outremont |
| 1914 | Residence for F. Charles Skelton | Chomedey Street, at Comte Street, Montreal |
| 1914 | House at Lake St.-Louis for an unidentified client | Beaurepaire, Quebec |
| 1914 | Molson's Bank | St. Laurent Boulevard at Ontario Street, Montreal |
| 1914 | Molson's Bank | Norwich, Ontario |
| 1914 | Molson's Bank | Sorel, Quebec |
| 1917 | Summer residence for M. Scarth Stevenson | Point Cavagnol, Como, Quebec |
| 1918 | Molson's Bank | Williamsburg, Ontario |
| 1920 | Molson's Bank | Bedford, Quebec |
| 1920 | Molson's Bank | King Street, Kitchener, Ontario |
| 1920 | Molson's Bank | Talbot Street at Flora Street, St. Thomas, Ontario |
| 1920 | Molson's Bank | Ayr, Ontario |
| 1920 | Molson's Bank | Market Square, Hamilton, Ontario |
| 1920 | Montreal Sailor's Institute | Place Royale at Capitol Street, Montreal |
| 1921 | Residence for H. Grimsdale, Wiseman Avenue | Wiseman Avenue, Outremont |
| 1921 | Bethany Presbyterian Church | Charlevoix Street at Rushbrooke Street, Montreal |
| 1922 | Pair of houses for Irving P. Rexford | Montrose Avenue, Westmount, Quebec |
| 1923 | Molson's Bank | Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec |
| 1923 | Residence for William Gear | Avenue Road, Westmount, Quebec |
| 1923 | Christ Church Anglican Cathedral | Ste. Catherine Street West at Union Avenue, Montreal |
| 1913 | St. Cuthbert's Anglican Church | Ogilvy Avenue at Outremont Avenue, Montreal |
| 1924 | Crown Trust LTD. | St. James Street, Montreal |
| 1927-28 | St. Columba Anglican Church (Parish Hall) | Hingston Avenue, Montreal |
| 1928 | St. Paul's Anglican Church | Empire Street, Greenfield Park |
| 1928 | St. Saviour's Anglican Church | Western Avenue at Regent Avenue, Montreal |
| 1928 | Julia Drummond Hostel | Mark Street at Bayle Street, Montreal |
| 1929 | St. Philip's Anglican Church (with Samuel H. Maw) | Brock Avenue, Montreal |
| 1936 | Remodelling of the Westmount Public Library | Sherbrooke Street West at Arlington Avenue, Montreal |
| 1939 | Union Church | Lac Marois, Quebec |
| 1940 | YMCA Chapel and library | Drummond Street, Montreal |