 Born in Osnabrück, he completed an apprenticeship as a mason until he moved to Bremen in 1898 where he attended the Technical College, graduating in 1903.In July 1904, he joined his student friend Eduard Scotland (1885–1945) to work as an architect and building contractor in Bremen, founding the firm "Runge & Scotland".From 1906 to 1915, they designed a number of residential and commercial buildings in the Lower Saxony style in Bremen and its surroundings.