Philip John Turner FRIBA FRAIC (1876 – 13 August 1943) was an architect and educator from Stowmarket, Suffolk.[1] 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.[2]

Philip J. Turner
Born1876
Died13 August 1943
NationalityEnglish
Alma materArchitectural Association School of Architecture
OccupationArchitect
AwardsFellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Senior Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada
Gold Medal of the Province of Quebec Association of Architects

As an architect, Turner designed many types of buildings, including residences, churches, banks, libraries and commercial buildings.[3] 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.[2]

Personal life and education

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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.[1] 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.[2]

Teaching career

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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.[4] 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.[2]

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.[5]

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.[2] 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.[6]

Architectural career

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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.[1]

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

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Antonia Brodie, ed. (2001). Philip John Turner, Obituary. Directory of British Architects, 1834-1914: Vol. 2 (L-Z). British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects. p. 848. ISBN 9780826455147. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Legacy of Turner, History by Norbert Schoenauer". Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Turner, Philip John". Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Highlights of the School's History". Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  5. ^ "1900-1950". McGill University Faculty of Engineering. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Scholarships, fellowships, prizes and fees". Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture. Retrieved 2 April 2020.