He designed Chartered Accountants Hall (1890), one of the first neo-baroque buildings in London, and many of his later commissions are prime examples of lavish Edwardian municipal architecture.

The son was articled with his father, spending two years in France from 1862, where he studied contemporary architecture, apparently more concerned with that promoted by Baron Haussman and Emperor Napoleon III than historic buildings.

Also in London, he designed the 1870 Mappin & Webb building in Gothic style on the corner of Queen Victoria Street and Poultry (demolished in 1994 after a protracted controversy and public inquiry, and replaced with the No 1 Poultry building), and was joint architect, with his partner John James Joass, of Whiteleys department store.

It featured extensive sculptural work by Sir Hamo Thornycroft, Harry Bates and others, consisting of several high-relief panels as well as stand-alone statues.

Belcher's major commissions outside London include Colchester Town Hall (1898–1902) and the Ashton Memorial, designed and built 1906–1909 in Lancaster.

Other works include: Southwark Church, Camberwell New Road, 1877 – now the Greek orthodox Cathedral; Cottage Hospital, Norwood, 1881; Redholm, Champion Hill, Dulwich, 1885 (for himself); Yeldall Manor, Hare Hatch, Berkshire; Château Mauricien,[3][4] Wimereux, France, 1897 (Belcher's only known building on the continent); Birmingham Daily Post Building, Fleet St, London 1902; Guildown Grange, Guildford, Surrey, 1902; Tapeley Park, Devon, reconstruction 1902; Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, extension, 1902–3; Royal London Friendly Society, Finsbury Square, London, 1904–5.