James Francis Doyle was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England on 11 September 1840 and was articled to William Hardie Hay (1813?-1901) and James Murdoch Hay (1823?-1915) in Liverpool. He subsequently commenced practice as an architect in Liverpool in 1865.
From c.1912 he was in partnership with his bother, Sidney Walter Doyle (1856-1920), in the Liverpool-based architectural firm J.F. & S.W. Doyle. The partnership was short-lived as J. F. Doyle died in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire on 16 February 1913.
Doyle mainly worked on projects in the Liverpool area. These included a number of churches including the rebuilding of St. Mary and St. Helen in Neston, Cheshire (1874-76); St. Catherine in Tranmere, Birkenhead, Cheshire (1875-76); St. Andrew in Maghull, Lancashire (1878-80); St. Ambrose in Widnes, Cheshire (1879-83) for which he also designed the vicarage (1900); St. Luke in Walton, Liverpool (1893-1901); and St. Barnabas in Mossley Hill, Liverpool (1900-14). He also designed Accrington Market in Accrington, Lancashire (1888); rebuilt Haughton Hall in Spurstow, Cheshire (1891-92); designed the south chapel of St. Olav church in Marygate, York (1908); and designed or altered several houses.
In 1894-96 he collaborated with Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912) on the design of the White Star Building on James Street and the Strand in Liverpool. On Shaw's recommendation Doyle was chosen to design the Royal Insurance Co. Building on Dale Street and North John Street, Liverpool (1897-1903).
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See also Wikimedia Commons [link below]
Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in the North West of England: a handbook. Wetherby, England: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2006
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
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985 [name given as John Francis Doyle]
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 104, 21 February 1913 pp. 235, 253
The Royal Insurance Company's Building, North John Street and Dale Street, Liverpool: J. Francis Doyle, Architect. Edited by J. Newby Hetherington. London: Batsford, 1904