Phipps, Paul | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

PHIPPS, Paul (1880-1953), a talented British-trained architect who was briefly active in Victoria and Vancouver where he was in partnership with Hoult Horton (see list of works under Horton & Phipps). Born in New York City on 3 March 1880 he attended Eton College in Windsor, and Balliol College in Oxford in 1898-1901. He articled with Sir Edwin Lutyens, the leading Edwardian architect in England at the turn of the century, spending three years in his office from 1901 to 1904. Phipps began his own practice in London in 1904, and arrived in Canada in early 1911.
He lived in Victoria, B.C., collaborating there with Horton, and executing works under his own name, including a substantial residence in Shaughnessy Heights for John Binns Johnson, Angus Drive near Granville Street, VANCOUVER, B.C., 1912. Phipps left Canada in 1913 or 1914, and served overseas during WWI, then returned to England where he formed a partnership with Oswald P. Milne in 1919. The firm of Milne & Phipps was active from 1919 until 1924; their clients included British Prime Minister Lloyd George, who commissioned them to reconstruct his residence at 86 Vincent Square, London, 1921-22 (Architectural Review [London], liii, January 1923, 8-11, illus. & descrip.). After their partnership was terminated in 1924 Phipps continued to work under his own name. His best known project was the urbane and impeccably detailed design for the Seventh Church of Christ Scientist, Wright's Lane, Kensington, LONDON, ENGLAND, 1926-27 ( Architect & Building News [London], cxviii, 28 Oct. 1927, 691, plate illus.; Architect's Journal [London], lxx, 20 Nov. 1929, 790-4, illus. & descrip.). Phipps was elected as a Fellow of the RIBA in 1921, and retired in 1951. He died in London on 23 August 1953 (obituary The Times [London], 24 August 1953, 8; R.I.B.A. Journal, lxi, Nov. 1953, 38-39; biog. F. Chatterton, Who's Who in Architecture, 1923, 195-6; biog. R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 369; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 401, 515).