Philip J. Turner

Philip John Turner (1876 – 13 August 1943) was an architect and educator from Stowmarket, Suffolk.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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.