P. Leslie Waterhouse was an architect and architectural writer known for The Story of Architecture, an introduction to the development of building design. His full name was Percy Leslie Waterhouse, and his writing brought a working architect's interests to a broad audience. He treated buildings as evidence of changing artistic ideas, practical needs, and historical circumstances.

Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Waterhouse moved to England and studied at Cambridge before training in architecture. He worked in several architectural offices, qualified professionally, and established his own practice in London. His later partnership with Alfred Henry Hart produced commercial, residential, and institutional projects, including Willing House on Gray's Inn Road.

Waterhouse also wrote The Story of the Art of Building. These books formed another expression of his professional life, explaining architectural traditions to readers who might not possess technical training. His combination of practice and historical writing encourages attention to the structures around us: their proportions, materials, details, and purposes. His son, Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse, later became a distinguished art historian, extending the family's connection with the study of visual culture.