Prior to establishing the firm, Hope attended (but did not graduate from) the University of California, Berkeley, and the Carnegie Institute of Architecture, was employed in the design department of a ship builder during World War I, then worked for the architectural firm of Requa & Jackson.

[1] Frank L. Hope & Associates designed houses and churches in a Mediterranean style, which he learned while at Requa & Jackson.

[1] The firm later designed houses in the seaside community of Point Loma, San Diego, in the Streamline Moderne style.

The largest structure designed during Frank Hope Sr.'s tenure was the Great Western Building (then known as the Home Tower), built in 1962.

[4][5] The firm designed buildings that are part of San Diego's downtown skyline during the city's boom in the '70s to '80s, including the east tower of the waterfront Marriott Hotel adjacent to the San Diego Convention Center and the First National Bank building.