ALFRED PHILLIPS SHAW was born on May 13, 1895 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. His parents were Welsh born Irish Catholic, Enoch Shaw, and Boston born Ellen Phillips.

He attended St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts and studied architecture at the Boston Architectural Club Atelier. 

He was recruited in 1922 to the Chicago firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White where  he became a junior partner in 1929. He married Rue Winterbotham 4 years later. Alfred Shaw was largely repsonsible, wit Sigurd Naess for moving GAPW from Burnham inspired Classicism to highly stylized (and more modern) Deco Architecture with the Merchandise Mart and the Field Building.  Shaw was fired from the firm in 1936 following the death of Ernest Graham. He immediately partnered to form the firm of Shaw, Naess and Murphy (later C.F. Murphy and Associates)  And later formed other partnerships (Shaw Metz Dolio, Shaw Metz, and Alfred Shaw Associates) that were among the most prolific firms in Chicago during the 1960's and 1970's

.  His career spanned from the death of Burnham protege Peirce Anderson to the ascendence of Mies and the Second Chicago School. Alfred P. Shaw died at the age of 76 in 1970. His wife followed in 1979 after presiding over the Chicago Arts Club for some 38 years.