Peter A. McNeil was born on 3 October 1917 in Dominion, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He attended elementary and high school in Glace Bay and worked during his teens as a carpenter's helper and farm labourer. During WWII he served with the Royal Canadian Navy in the North Atlantic from 1941-1945. While in service he enrolled in an architectural course from the International Correspondence Schools and worked for the Command Maintenance Office as a junior draughtsman under the Chief Architect.

When he left the service he returned to the construction business as carpenter, foreman, and superintendent and eventually began his own construction company. Drawn to architecture however, he applied for student membership in the Nova Scotia Association of Architects and was accepted as a senior student. He sold his company and went to work for a Halifax based architectural firm, managing the Sydney office.

In 1941 McNeil married Rose McVeigh of Inverness, Nova Scotia with whom he had six children: Peter Michael, Claire, Douglas, Donalda, Kevin, and Sharon. In 1957, the family moved to Parkdale, Prince Edward Island where McNeill set up Architectural Enterprises Incorporated in Charlottetown. During his professional career he designed many schools, churches and public buildings in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. These included St. Paul's Church in Summerside, St. Pius X in Parkdale, Stella Maris Church and Rectory, Louisburg, N.S., St. Dunstan's Receation Centre,Regional High School in Miscouche, Tignish Elementary School, Senior citizen housing in Charlottetown and Souris, and the Town of Parkdale office building.

McNeill was a founding member and first president of theArchitects Association of Prince Edward Island and a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. He was instrumental in the establishment of the legislation which became the Architect's Act. He was also a member of the
Specifications Writers of Canada, a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Designers and a member of the Electric Service League of Prince Edward Island.

An active member of his community he was the first chairman of the Parkdale Village Commission, served on the committee to establish the Community of Sherwood, and was President of the Catholic Family Services Bureau for two terms. He also was a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1970-1974 during the administration of Alex B. Cambell, elected in a by-election for 5th Queens on 23 November 1970.

Peter A. McNeill died on 4 August 1989 in Charlottetown.