Congdon was an architect and real estate developer influenced by the Craftsman style of house design. He built is own house in 1909 as one of the very first in the University Heights area. He purchased several lots on Clarendon Street, then a highpoint of the northern edge of the tract (formerly Clarke St). A modest cottage like structure influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement, the house has wonderful views to the hills to the south, and also looks southwest to the area that Congdon would soon develop, in 1911, as Berkeley Park. Congdon designed and sold a bungalow on Ackerman Avenue and he also designed several of the houses in Berkeley Park, including 113 and 117 Circle Road.
Congdon graduated from Syracuse University in 1897. He worked as sales agent for the Berkeley Park Land Company, and then in 1919 went to work as sales agent for the Scottholm Company. After his career as an architect-developer, Congdon worked as an art expert and dealer in Syracuse in the 1930s.