 Educated at Hackensack Academy and Harvard University graduating with a degree in architecture in 1879.Gardiner first came to Japan in 1880 and designed numerous school, church and private residential buildings while in the country.As a lay missionary in the Anglican Church in Japan his connection with Bishop Channing Moore Williams and the work of US Episcopal Church mission was close, leading in part to his appointment as one of the first Presidents of St. Paul's School, the founding institution of Rikkyo University.