Practising from the late 1940s to the early 1960s and working primarily in Toronto, Dickinson is credited as one of the leaders in developing the Mid-Century Modern style in Canada during the post-World War II period.

Peter Dickinson grew up in a home on Grove End Road in St. John's Wood, and attended Westminster School from 1938 to 1941.

Significant projects in the years before Dickinson arrived included the British American Oil Building (800 Bay Street) and the Park Lane Apartments (110 St. Clair Avenue West), the latter notable as the residence of Glenn Gould.

As design chief for Page and Steele, Dickinson's early projects included the Lyndwood School, Canadian Red Cross Society Building, and the Toronto Teachers' College.

The associates were Colin Vaughan, Dick Williams, Rod Robbie, and Fred Ashworth and the firm operated out of the Canadian Petrofina Building at 1910 Yonge Street.

The first project the new firm received was the Seminary for the Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada, located in North York.

The opening night featured the premiere of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews.

The building had been designed while Dickinson was still at Page and Steele, and the lobby featured a mural entitled "The Seven Lively Arts," painted by York Wilson.

Along with Dickinson, architects including John C. Parkin, James Murray, Peter Caspari, and Gordon Adamson added many modernist buildings to Toronto's built landscape over the course of the 1950s.

Many of Dickinson's original drawings are held at the Archives of Ontario as part of the "Page and Steele Architects Fonds."