 He opened an office at 1262 Broadway in Manhattan in 1887.That year he designed a building combining a store, a stable, and apartments for Loton Horton of the Horton Ice Cream Co., at 371 Amsterdam Avenue, in the Upper West Side–Central Park West Historic District (designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission).Rooke formed a brief but productive partnership with architect Paul Franklyn Higgs in 1888.