John Henry Arthur Phillips was born in South Kensington, London, England in c.1875. He was articled to Robert Lempriere Hesketh (1850-1937) and Walter Stokes of Hesketh & Stokes in London from 1893 to 1896 and remained with them as their assistant. He also attended classes at the Architectural Association Schools in London from 1893 to 1897. He qualified as an architect in 1893 and subsequently practised as an architect in London. In 1903 he formed a partnership with Alfred George Hall (1866-1945) as Hall & Phillips. In 1904 they submitted an entry in a competition to design the Central Library in Hackney, London. Their designs are illustrated in British Competitions in Architecture vol. 1, no. 6, January 1906 (p. 24). The partnership was dissolved in 1907.
Phillips was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) on 1899, His address was given as 110 Cheapside, London in 1898; 125 Lydhurst Avenue, Streatham, London in 1901; and Ennerdale, 8 Trinity Road, Tulse Hill, London in 1914. He died on 18 April 1914.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. Royal Institute of British Architects Journal vol. 22, 1915 p. 48