Roland Taylor Addis was born in Philadelphia, the son of Mary Taylor and Leonard Myers Addis, and attended Germantown Academy, Episcopal Academy, and Princeton University (1917-1918) before completing a B. S. in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1923. He began his career as a draftsman for Mantle Fielding, then worked for Charles Barton Keen and then for Charles Z. Klauder. He was head draftsman in the office of Stewardson & Page, and then worked for Thomas Pym Cope before establishing his own firm in 1936, which continued until World War II. He served in the Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was awarded the Bronze Star. After the war, he formed a partnership with his friend Duffield Ashmead. Following Ashmead's death in 1952, Addis resumed the independent practice that continued his death.

Addis joined the national AIA in 1942 and was a member of the Philadelphia Chapter. He specialized in ecclesiastical work and served as a member of the Architects' Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsyvania.

Written by Emily T. Cooperman, and Sandra L. Tatman.