 In 1892, Ross produced plans for the Chapel at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, for what appears to be the first building he designed as architect that was actually constructed.Ross would be featured later in the West Coast architectural journal, "The Architect and Engineer", in 1908 and 1912, and in both instances, the Cypress Lawn Chapel would be featured as “a splendid example of his early work.”
Ross worked for a few architects during the early portion of his career, including Louis S. Stone and Harry S. Munson (1892–1893) and for John J. Clark (1894), before entering into a partnership with Edward A. Hatherton in 1895.After the San Francisco earthquake and fires in 1906, Ross entered into partnership with engineer A. W. Burgren.