[1] Applegarth’s career included designing the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Clift Hotel (now The Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel), and projects for the town of Clyde, California.

[2] He graduated from Oakland High School; and began his career as a draughtsman for Wright & Sanders in San Francisco, while he studied drawing at the University of California, Berkeley under Bernard Maybeck.

[5][6] Applegarth continued his training at École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (degree in April 1906),[5][6] where he met his future work partner Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr.[5] He returned to the United States after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires.

[6] Bernard Maybeck led the project, and it was funded in part by the United States government loan.

[6] He was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and for a period of time served as president of the San Francisco chapter.