Ernest Albert Coxhead was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, England on 1 October 1863 and was articled to George Ambrose Wallis (1840-1895), a civil engineer and architect in Eastbourne, Sussex from 1878 to 1883. During his time with Wallis he worked on architectural projects in the Eastbourne area.
After completing his articles he worked in the office of Frederic Chancellor(1825-1918) in London as an assistant and later as clerk of works from 1883 to 1886. He also attended classes at the Architectural Association Schools and the Royal Academy Schools in London. In 1885 he was awarded the RIBA Silver Medal for Measured Drawing, He qualified as an architect in 1886 later that year was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA).
In 1886, with his brother, Almeric William Silvester Coxhead (1862-1928) he emigrated to the USA and settled in Los Angeles where by January 1887 they had established an architectural office. The practice relocated to San Francisco in 1890 where it remained until the brothers retired. Initially they practised as Ernest A. Coxhead, however, by 1891 the firm was known as Coxhead & Coxhead.
Ernest Albert Coxhead died in Alameda [or Berkeley - sources differ], California on 27 March 1933.
Ernest Albert Coxhead was the senior partner in Coxhead & Coxhead and appears to have been responsible for much if not most of the work produced by the practice. This included at least six Episcopal churches in California between 1888 and 1913; the 1st English Lutheran Church in Downtown, Los Angeles (1888); the 1st Congregational Church no.3 in Los Angeles (1889); Sturgis House in Los Angeles (1889-90); the Sturgis House in Los Angeles (1889-90); an apartment house in Alamo Square, San Francisco, for Irving Scott (1890); Bixby Ranch House in Long Beach, California (1890); Chapel of the Holy Innocents, in San Francisco (1890); a house in Berkely, California for W. E. Chamberlain (1892); house in San Anselmo, California for Andrew Carrigan, Sr., and Eliza G. Harris (1892); a house in San Francisco for George Whittell (1893) the Graduate School of Public Policy in Berkely, California (1893); a house designed for themselves in San Mateo, California by Ernest and Almeric Coxhead (1893); the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House no.1 in Northside, Berkeley, California (1893-94); a house in Los Angeles for Edwin T. Earl (1897-98); Spanish–American War Soldier's Monument in Portland, Oregon (1906); a house in San Francisco for Bruce Parker (1903-04); the Continental Hotel in San Francisco (1906); and Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Building in San Francisco (1908). Coxhead & Coxhead also designed numerous other private residences in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Longstreth, Richard. On the Edge of the World. New York: Architectural History Foundation and Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983