Gordon Stephenson was born in Liverpool, England in 1908 and studied at the School of Architecture, University of Liverpool from 1925 to 1930. In 1929 he spent six months gaining experience in the office of Corbett, Harri son & McMurray in New York. He received a B.Arch. in 1930. In 1930 he was awarded a Chadwick Trust Scholarship enabling him to study for two years at the Institut d'Urbanisme at the Université de Paris, and work in the office of Le Corbusier. Following his return to Liverpool in 19032 he taught fourth and fifth year students at the School of architecture until 1936.
From 1936 to 1938 he was a Harkness Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During World War Two Stephenson was Senior Planner with the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and designed a number of factory buildings. After the war he worked on the planning of Stevenage New Town
From 1948 to 1953 he was Lever Professor of Civic Design, University of Liverpool. He later held chairs at the Universities of Toronto and Western Australia, and was subsequently Professor and later Emeritus Professor at the University of Western Australia. He died in Claremont, Western Australia on 29 March 1997.
Dix, Gerald. ‘The compassionate planner: An appreciation of the life and work of Gordon Stephenson’. The Town Planning Review Vol. 68, No. 3, July 1997 pp. iii-xiv
Gregory, Jenny. ‘Stephenson and metropolitan planning in Perth’. The Town Planning Review vol. 83, no. 3, January 2012 pp. 297-317
Gregory, Jenny and Gordon, David L. ‘Introduction: Gordon Stephenson, planner and civic designer’. The Town Planning Review Vol. 83, No. 3, 2012 pp. 269-278
Sharples, Joseph, Powers, Alan and Shippobottom, Michael. Charles Reilly & the Liverpool School of Architecture 1904-1933. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 25 October 1996 - 2 February 1997. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1996 pp. 177-178 [Contains other references to Stephenson, unfortunately, this very informative catalogue is not indexed]
Stephenson, Gordon. On a human scale : a life in city design. South Fremantle : Western Australia : Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1992
Webb, Martyn. ‘Obituary: Emeritus Professor Gordon Stephenson (1908-1997)’. Australian Planner vol. 34, 1997 pp. 69-71