He is best known for his collaboration with Benjamin Ingelow; their architectural practice, founded by Carpenter's father and based in Marylebone, London, was responsible for the construction or of many ecclesiastical properties.

Carpenter attended Charterhouse School and began his architectural career working with his late father's partner William Slater.

[3] The school's chapel was added in 1879–87 by Carpenter and Ingelow in a late 13th-century Gothic style; it consists of a four bay nave with polygonal apse.

Work continued long after Carpenter's death; the projected tower was never built; plans to complete the west end have since been resurrected and as at 2013 were at the fundraising stage.

The many gabled stone new house, with tall ornamental chimneys and mullioned windows was approached through the original tripartite arches of the former palace.

In 1879 Carpenter and Ingelow received the commission to create the topographical crown of Nathaniel Woodard's schools – Ellesmere College with its "H" plan and gothic facade looking out over a quadrangle, terraces and playing fields towards the hills of Wales.

In 1884 Carpenter and Ingelow received an important commission to design what is today known as the Chapel Court at Jesus College, Cambridge.