Award-winning Residential, Cultural, Commercial and Heritage Architects in Canberra.

Established 1996.

  • New Houses: McOwan House in Queanbeyan designed by Philip Leeson Architects

    New Houses

    See our portfolio of beautiful, exciting and comfortable new houses in Canberra and NSW.

  • Alterations and additions: Chowne Street House Canberra. Alterations, additions and restoration of a mid-century design home in Canberra.

    Alterations & Additions

    Responsive, elegant and clever renovations and extensions to existing houses in Canberra and NSW.

  • Heritage and Conservation Architecture: We provide conservation, alteration and addition advice for heritage houses and buildings in Canberra, including Conservation Management Plans (CMPs).

    Heritage & Conservation

    Philip Leeson Architects specialise in additions and alterations to heritage homes, Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) and operating the ACT Heritage Advisory Service.

  • Cultural and Commercial Architecture: The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

    Cultural & Commercial

    Philip Leeson Architects has completed cultural and commercial architecture projects throughout Canberra including many notable and iconic Canberra places.

  • Multi-Unit Residential Benham Apartments in Chisholm by Philip Leeson Architects

    Multi-Unit Residential

    We have extensive experience in multi-unit residential developments including townhouses, apartments, commercial residential, social housing and adaptable housing

Philip Leeson Architects is an independently owned, award-winning architecture firm based in Canberra. Philip leads a passionate team of experienced architects, designers and consultants on residential, cultural, heritage and commercial architecture projects.

Since 1996 the practice has worked on over 1000 projects in and around Canberra, many of which are culturally significant and, in some cases, hold an iconic place in the Canberra psyche.

Our expertise and portfolio cover residential architecture, multi-residential architecture, renovations and extensions, interior design, heritage architecture, and cultural and commercial architecture.

Philip Leeson Architects (PLA) designed and oversaw the construction of our knockdown rebuild. We thought it would be helpful to share our experience. 

From our first meeting, PLA impressed us with their deep commitment both to good design and achieving value for money, on the back of a diverse and highly experienced team. After engaging them to build our house, we had lots of fun collaborating on several iterations of the design until we settled on something that met our needs, while also remaining within budget. Then, in a period of high inflation and routine cost blowouts across the industry, PLA and the builder completed our 5 bedroom house in 9 months, with no surprises. 

Throughout construction, minor changes were made to the design in response to developments and emerging issues, and with satisfying attention to detail. PLA also resolved some unexpected financial and contract management issues in a stress-free manner. Comparing our experience with friends, we doubt it would have been more cost effective or efficient to have gone with a custom builder, despite up-front promises of lower prices.

Since moving in, we have come to fully appreciate what PLA was able to achieve for us. Beyond the form and function, we’re regularly inspired by unique details of the house. The view from a window, the interplay between indoor and outdoor, a piece of craftsmanship – it all points to a cohesive, artistic vision, in dialogue with the environment and our needs as a family. We would recommend PLA to anyone looking to build a quality house.

James & Dharshi”