Wilfred Craven Rhodes was born in Holborn, London, England on 22 December 1887. He was articled to Harold Clapham Lander (1868-1955) in London in 1904 and remained with him as his assistant until 1912. He also attended the Architectural Association Schools in London. He then moved to Canada where he worked as an assistant to Charles Jewett Saxe (1870-1943) and John Smith Archibald (1872-1934) of Saxe & Archibald in Montreal, Quebec in 1912-13; to W. A. Langton in Toronto in 1913; to Burke, Horwood & White in 1913-14; and to Henry Sproatt (1866-1934) and E. R. Rolph of Sproatt & Rolph in 1914.
Rhodes qualified as an architect in Toronto in 1913 and the following year was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA)
Rhodes movements after 1914 are unclear. In 1919 he married in Chapel en le Frith, Derbyshire, England. He evidently returned to Canada in 1919 and in 1921 was living in Toronto. In 1943 he is recorded as living in Neutral Bay, Warringah, New South Wales, Australia. He died in Uckfield, Sussex, England on 16 March 1970. At the time of his death his address was Kaya-Lami, Green Lane, Crowborough, Sussex.
Drawings and plans of a house designed by him are illustrated in Designs for One Hundred Ideal £1,000 Houses. Being copies of the hundred best designs entered in the 1912 Daily Mail Architects' Competition (1912 p.87). The entry was submitted before he left for Canada.
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