[1][2] He was born in Nore, Norway in 1861 to Ole Jacob Sparre and Anne Petronelle Enger.

After graduation, he worked in Arendal as a manager at a technical school for three years.

From 1892 to 1896, Sparre was a city architect in Bergen, where he designed a building at Domkirkegaten 4 (1895) in the neo-Renaissance sRtyle.

He moved to Kristiania in 1897, where he started his own architecture firm, partly in collaboration with Herman Major Backer.

He is known for designing the justice building in 1903 which is the home of the Supreme Court of Norway.