During a professional career spanning some sixty years of practice, mainly in residential housing, Raymond explored the use of innovative materials and building systems.

[4] Eleanor Raymond amassed more than 50 years of professional experience in the practice of architecture, and in 1961 was made a fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

She saw the places that had formed the backdrop of her college studies, the parks, villas, churches, towns, and cities that were to quicken her interest in gardens and buildings.

She was among five women architectural design students of Henry Atherton Frost and Bremer Whidden Pond in 1915, the school's first year of operation.

She was drawn to the simple vernacular structures expressive of rural American life, avoiding the grand facades and the exclusively modern styles that were popular with her contemporaries.

Raymond became increasingly known primarily for residential designs that took cues from early American architecture, as well as for her restoration and remodeling work, which approached modern-day adaptive reuse.

The Rachel Raymond House in Belmont, Massachusetts (built for her sister in 1931 and demolished in 2006),[8][9] for example, fuses the stark International-Style rectilinear forms of the exterior with an interior rich in traditional built-in cupboards, decorative wood trim, and antique hardware.

[13] A collection of Raymond's blueprints, papers, diaries, letters, and scrapbooks documenting some 200 of her buildings is held by the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

[6] A portfolio of materials about her architectural work is held by the Historic New England museum, and includes a number of articles written by Power about Raymond.