[1][2] Encouraged by his father, in 1870 Beman began his architectural training at 17 in the office of New York architect Richard Upjohn, best known for his religious designs in the Gothic Revival style.

[1][3] In 1879, Beman received a commission from George Pullman to design what would become the nation's first planned company town, and he relocated to Chicago to carry out the extensive work involved.

Pullman arranged for Beman to design the many buildings involved, while landscape architect Nathan Franklin Barrett created the street and park system.

[9] With asymmetrical plans and elevations, high-pitched, visually complex rooflines, and "fancifully treated chimneys",[10] Châteauesque enjoyed a period of popularity for "the elaborate homes of America’s newly-established wealthy families" beginning with the Vanderbilts.

[11] Beman was quite skilled at Châteauesque, which when successful involves "the adroit mixing of Renasissance and Late Gothic details... [and is] rather tricky for any but the cordon bleus of the profession.

Caught up in the trend toward Neoclassicism favored by Daniel H. Burnham, director of the Exposition, after this Beman "abandoned his former playful eclecticism and took on the sobriety and unity of the Renaissance and classical styles.

Beman oversaw the construction of the Mother Church Extension (Boston, 1904-1906) after the original architect, Charles Brigham, became too ill to proceed and went to Bermuda to recover.

The Solon S. and Spencer S. Beman Collection of archival materials, held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago, includes publications documenting their architectural projects.