His Art Deco designs have been called "bold, spectacularly dynamic", "radical", "distinctive", "theatrical ... very dramatic", "syncopated and jazzy".

His father was a construction worker, and he received his love of the arts from his mother, who exposed him to theatre, where he saw operettas and other light entertainment.

"[1] In World War I, Walker served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the American Expeditionary Force as a second lieutenant in the Camouflage Section, from 1917 to 1918,[1] as did many other artists, sculptors and architects.

[4] Inspired in part by Hugh Ferriss's theoretical drawings exhibited in 1922, Walker created a massive asymmetrical tower set back from its base.

It has also been described as the first Art Deco skyscraper because of its inventive ornament surrounding doorways and windows and elevator foyers.

During the 1930s as Art Deco waned, Walker was deeply involved with the planning of the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago and in the 1939 New York World's Fair.

[12][13][14] The Ralph T. Walker Papers, his Nachlass are preserved at the Special Collections Research Center of the Syracuse University Libraries.

They contain correspondence, articles, manuscript essays, speeches, notes and notebooks as well as photographs, project files, sketches, clippings, and scrapbooks.

Walker was devastated by the controversy and self-published a booklet defending his reputation—and including much of the correspondence surrounding the incident – which he sent to all members of the College of Fellows.

He was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, serving from 1959 to 1963;[17] he was a trustee of the Lavanburg Foundation, Vice President of the Citizen's Housing & Planning Council of New York, and a member of the Housing Committee, and Chairman of the Planning Committee of New Castle, New York.