His major works include the art nouveau Villa Majorelle in Nancy, France and the art-deco building of the La Samaritaine department store in Paris.

In about 1895, he designed a shop for the interior decoration and wallpaper firm of his father, Henri-Albert Sauvage, and his partner Alexandre-Amédée Jolly, which was located at 3 rue de Rohan in the 1st arrondissement (later demolished).

[3] In the same year, along with Charles Sarazin, he founded his own architectural firm and became a member of the Société nationale des beaux-arts, where he regularly exhibited his decorative works.

At the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900, Sauvage designed a theater for the American dancer Loïe Fuller, working in collaboration Pierre Roche, Francis Jourdain and the ceramic artist Alexandre Bigot; a theater called le Guignol parisien; the exhibition stand for the firm of his father, Jolly fils et Sauvage; a power generating station which produced electricity for the exhibition, as well as Art Nouveau entrances for the Exposition of the Street organized by Frantz Jourdain.

[7] In 1911, Sauvage and Sarazin constructed a new apartment building in the 16th arrondissement which had a novel feature on its ground floor; an iron and glass shopping gallery, the Cité d'Argentine, an updated version of the Passages of the late 18th and early 19th century.

The exteriors of both buildings were completely covered with white ceramic tiles made by the enterprise of Hippolyte Boulenger and company.

[9] However, because of the terraces, they gave up a large amount of rentable space both on the exterior and in the interior, where no windows were possible, and were not considered economically profitable.

Sauvage had hoped that, with his new design, higher buildings might be permitted, but the city refused to alter height limitations.

In 1913, Just before the First World War, Sauvage built a new structure for Louis Majorelle in what later became known as Art déco, making him, along with Auguste Perret, one of the pioneers in this style.

The versatile architect designed the Pavillon Primavera (in collaboration with the architect Georges Wybo and the firm Peyret Fréres); the Tunisian bazaar, the Panorama of North Africa, the Galleria Constantine, a gallery of shops; and an electric transformer designed along with his sister-in-law, the sculptor Zette Savage.

In the 1920s, Sauvage ended his partnership with Charles Sarazin, and confirmed his status as a pioneer of the Art deco style.

The art deco interior of this theater has been remade into a cineplex, and the entrances have been modified, but the facade is in its original form.

[13] In 1931, also in collaboration with Jourdain, Sauvage built a second department store, called Decré, on rue Moulon in the city of Nantes.

The facades of the new Samaritaine allowed Sauvage to practice on a monumental scale the techniques which he earlier had only been able to use on expensive smaller buildings for private clients; Vast walls of windows, filled with light, made the store a luminous landmark of the new style in the heart of historic Paris.

Many of his early works in the Art nouveau style were destroyed, and others, including the villa Marcot à Compiègne, and in poor condition.

Twenty marble mosaics made from Sauvage's cartoons decorate the Art Deco lobby of Carnegie Library of Reims.