Vierra went to school in Monterey, California and had a hard time deciding between a life at sea and art.

In 1904, at age twenty-eight, Vierra contracted tuberculosis and, at the advice of his doctor, relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

It was at the Sunmount Sanatarium, a restorative institution for tubercular consumption, where Vierra met architect John Gaw Meem and others who influenced each other and made sure the Pueblo Revival style of Santa Fe was preserved.

The first houses in 1925 and 1926 that John Gaw Meem designed show a clear debt to his mentor, Carlos Vierra.

Hewett also allowed him to have an influential role in restoring the Palace of the Governors, the oldest capitol building in the United States.

In addition to his illustrating and painting, Vierra opened his own photography studio on the west side of the Santa Fe Plaza, which he purchased for $280 from J.B. Aylsworth on November 27, 1905.