Hopkins was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and attended Cornell University from 1909 to 1910.
He continued to study at Columbia University until 1914, when he received a bachelor's degree in architecture.
After a few years of working in Kansas City, Missouri, teaching at Texas A&M College, and receiving an honorary MA from St. John's College, Annapolis, Hopkins began work as an architectural designer in the offices of Albro and Lindeberg in New York in 1919.
Hopkins joined the American Institute of Architects in 1921, then served as vice-president of the Baltimore Chapter from 1946 to 1948, and held the presidency from 1948 to 1950.
[1] Hopkins died in 1984 of chronic pneumonia at his home in Baltimore, Maryland.