Phelps and Irby were built in 1954. Their preliminary designs were conducted by Tulane School of Architecture faculty, Buford L. Pickens, John W. Lawrence, George A. Saunders, and John Rock. Freret and Wolf, Andry and Feitel, Ricciuti, and Stoffle and Associates were the architects of record.
Phelps and Irby were the first of several Tulane dorms that used exterior galleries for corridors by grouping several rooms about a common bathroom. Members of the Architecture faculty proposed the scheme -- a conscious use of traditional Louisiana residential device of the porch gallery access in a modern form. The arrangement allowed for cross-ventilation, as the dorms were not originally air conditioned.
The dorms were demolished in 2022 to make space for the new River and Lake dormitories as part of the Housing Redevelopment Phase 1 of 2024. The dorms were a mid-century modern element of campus that now lives in memory.