Medary attended the University of Pennsylvania for one year before joining the Philadelphia architecture firm of Frank Miles Day in 1891.
Credit for this design, however, was given to a faculty member, Frank Miles Day with Medary listed as an associate architect.
Sculptor and cabinetmaker Edward Maene, metalworker Samuel Yellin, and stained glass designer Nicola D'Ascenzo collaborated on the doors and the polychromed "Christ in Majesty" tableau above them.
His buildings include the Pennsylvania Athletic Club, Bryn Mawr Hospital, and, with Paul Cret, the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Medary served on the National Capital Park and Planning Commission and on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C.; he was president of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Philadelphia chapter, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and was affiliated with the Foundation for Architecture and Landscape Architecture and with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.