Smith received his undergraduate education at Amherst (Massachusetts) College, graduating in 1915; he then entered the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, from which he received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in architecture in 1919 and 1920, respectively. From 1920 to 1923 he was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome. He would become a trustee of the American Academy in 1933, and serve as its president from 1937 to 1957.
On returning from Rome, Smith joined the staff of McKim, Mead and White in 1924, and in 1929 was made a full partner; and he became the last surviving partner of the distinguished architectural firm under that name. Smith's practice was principally in the design of academic buildings. Among his clients were Amherst College; Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine; Middlebury (Vermont) College; Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut; and Union College, Schenectady, New York. However, his last major project was the Smithsonian Instition's Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) in Washington, D. C.
