After living for some time in New York, the family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Desmond graduated from Jesuit High School.
He subsequently received a master's of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he studied under William Wurster and Alvar Aalto.
[1] After returning from WWII but before practicing architecture in Hammond, Desmond worked for Skidmore Owings & Merrill, in New York City; A. Hays Town in Baton Rouge; and the Tennessee Valley Authority, in Knoxville.
[1][3] With François Emilio (Milo) Puiz, art director, he realized the second remodeling of the interior of St. Joseph Cathedral according to the directives of Vatican Council II.
[4] In New Orleans, he designed the Rogers Memorial Chapel, as well as the Lindy Boggs Center, both on the Campus of his alma mater, Tulane University.