 He was named as St. Paul's first City Architect in 1914 and served for five terms before leaving in 1923 serve eight terms in the Minnesota Senate.While city architect he drafted the city's first uniform building code in 1921, and designed numerous municipal buildings including the Beaux-Arts Carnegie libraries that were later placed on the NRHP.He returned to private practice while in the Minnesota Senate, and during that time designed the Minnesota Building, which was his largest work.