James Grey West was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1885. and was articled to Edgar Down in Cardiff in c.1900. In 1904 he began working at His Majesty's Office of Works [later Ministry of Works] as a temporary draughtman. He subsequently rose through the ranks becoming the an assistant architect in 1911 and chief architect in 1934 in succession to Sir Richard Allison (1869-1958).
During World War Two West served as Director of Post-War Planning. He was knighted for services to architecture in 1938 and retired from the Ministry of Works in 1936. He died on 15 July 1951
Architectural projects on which West worked included the Ministry of Pensions building in Acton, London (1914–22); the hall of Royal Air Force College at Cranwell, Lincolnshire (1929-33); the Duveen Wing of the National Portrait Gallery in London, with Sir Richard Allison (1933); the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast (1933); St. Andrew's House in Edinburgh (1935–39); the Catafalque at Westminster Hall in London for the lying-in state of King George V (1936); and the the annexe to Westminster Abbey in London for the Coronation of King George VI