The brothers were sons of Richard Morris Hunt, the first American Beaux-Arts architect.

Richard practiced in his father's office until the elder Hunt died in 1895, then continued to carry out his father's designs for the central block of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[2] not without initial resistance by the museum's trustees.

His younger brother Joseph studied at Harvard College and the School of Architecture at Columbia University before following his brother to the École des Beaux-Arts, returning to New York in 1901.

[5] In 1887, Richard Hunt joined his father's offices, first as a draftsman and later an associate.

After his father's death, he attracted wealthy clients and built residences such as the Margaret Shepard house at 5 East 66th Street in 1900 (today home to the Lotos Club).