As an architect employed by Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt, he helped build the docks at Alexandria. He also assisted with the construction of the buildings for the Egyptian pavilion at the Exposition Universelle (1867), under the direction of the Egyptologist, François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette. Later, he recovered parts of the pavilion for use in a Moorish-style villa in Orsay, belonging to the sculptor, Charles Cordier. In 1868, he was named a Knight in the Legion of Honor. The following year, he was part of the entourage that accompanied the Empress Eugénie to the inauguration of the Suez Canal.