Albert Ernest Doyle was born in Santa Cruz, California in 1877. While still young, he moved with his family to Portland, Oregon. In Oregon he apprenticed with the architectural firm of Whidden and Lewis where he stayed until 1903. In 1903 he attended Columbia University and worked in the office of Henry Bacon. Three years later, he received a travelling scholarship which allowed him to tour Europe.
In 1907 Doyle opened an office in Portland with his partner, William B. Patterson. Within a year, the firm received its first major commission. Many commissions followed. Doyle designed his commercial buildings in a mixture of revival styles with emphasis placed on the Italian Renaissance. In addition to his eclectic urban designs, Doyle created a series of beach cottages on the Oregon and Washington coast that inspired the regional style developed in the 1930s by other architects.

Doyle died in 1928.