Emmons began his career by working as a draughtsman for McKim, Mead & White in 1930-1932.[1] He worked for architect William Wurster from 1938 to 1939, and for Allied Engineers from 1940 to 1942.[1][2] He served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1942 to 1946.[1] By 1946, he started his own architectural practice in Los Angeles.[1][2]
Emmons opened an architectural practice with A. Quincy Jones in 1950.[2] The first year, they designed the Sascha Brastoff Ceramics Factory located at 11520 West Olympic Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles,[3] the Brody House in the Pacific Palisades,[4] the Romanoff's on the Rocks Restaurant on Highway 111 in Palm Springs,[5] and the King Cole Market and Shopping Center in Whittier.[6] By 1952, they designed the Southdown Estates Houses at 16310 Akron Street in the Pacific Palisades.[7] They also designed the Nicholas P. Daphne Funeral Home located at 1 Church street in San Francisco, California, in 1952-1953; it was demolished in 2000.[8] They designed the Hugheston Meadows Housing Tract, which won an Award of Merit from the National Association of Home Builders in 1953.[9] In 1954, they designed the Huberland House at 16060 Royal Oaks Road in Encino in 1954,[10] and the Building Contractors' Association Building in Pomona.[11] In 1965 they completed Country Club Estates, a 30-unit development in Palm Springs, California.
Emmons and Jones designed their own office, Jones & Emmons Architectural Office Building, in Los Angeles in 1955,[12] as well as the West Wilshire Swimming Pool in Los Angeles,[13] and the St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in the Pacific Palisades, which was destroyed by arson in 1978.[14] In 1963, they designed the Shorecliff Tower Apartments at 535 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.[15] In 1964, they designed the Charles E. Young Research Library on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).[16] A year later, they designed a house at 901 Airole Way, in Bel Air.[17]
Emmons and Jones also designed several houses in Orange, California, for developer Joseph Eichler. In particular they designed a house at 602 East Briardale Avenue House and another house at 1843 North Woodside Street House, both of which were located in the Fairmeadows Tract.[18][19] They also designed two housing tracts for Eichler in Palo Alto: the Fairmeadow Housing Tract in 1953 and the Greenmeadow Housing Tract in 1954-1955.[20][21] In 1956, they designed the X-100 House in another development by Eichler in San Mateo.[22] They designed houses on another Eichler housing tract known as the Terra Linda Housing Tract, in San Rafael, in 1954-1955, while some houses on the same track were designed by Anshen & Allen.[23] They also designed the Pardee-Phillips Housing Tract for Eichler in the Pacific Palisades.[24] Additionally, they designed six houses for the Estates Oceanside Housing Development in San Luis Rey.[25]