[5] He met John Jay Smith who helped him obtain a contract to construct a building for the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1835.

[2] He was selected to design and build the Roman Doric gatehouse, landscaping, cottage and chapel at Laurel Hill Cemetery.

[6] Notman's design for Laurel Hill was selected over more experienced architects including William Strickland and Thomas Ustick Walter.

His work at Nathan Dunn's estate, known as "The Cottage", in Mount Holly, New Jersey, drew acclaim from Andrew Jackson Downing.

Other notable landscape design projects were completed for the estates of Richard Stockton Field, Joshua Francis Fisher, George Washington Doane and Jay Cooke.

[7] He was also briefly employed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Philadelphia during construction of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul[9] until an argument over the terms of his contract resulted in his dismissal.

It reads: "Laurel Hill stands as a landmark in American social and cultural history... an essay in the evolution of our nation's architecture, landscape design and funerary art.