Philip Henry Tree was born in Hastings, East Sussex, England in September 1848 and was articled to Thomas Elsworthy (?-1899) in St. Leonards, East Sussex from 1865 to c.1870. He then assisted A. Agar of St. George's Aquare, Pimlico, London from c.1870. He also assisted Decimus Burton (1800-1881) in his work in St. Leonards.
Tree commenced practice as an architect in 1871 and that year won a competition for the design of the Lower Pleasure Ground in Bournemouth, Hampshire [now Dorset]; and in 1907 he designed a building for Wright & Parkhurst, a local carrier at 17 Tower Street, Rye, Sussex,
He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1882 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1890.
His address was given as 59 London Road, St Leonards, Sussex in 1881 and 1914; 31 Chapel Park Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, Sussex in 1891; 29 London Road, St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex in 1900; 11 Dane Road St Leonards On Sea, Hastings, Sussex in 1911; 63 Queen Victoria Street, London in 1919; and 3I, Walbrook, London in 1922. He died at 94 Regents Park Road, Middlesex, England, on 5 December 1922.
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. 30, 1923 pp. 119, 160