Frye worked in Pittsburgh, PA, c. 1902 and New York, NY, in 1905. Architect, Trowbridge and Livingston, Architects, New York, NY, and San Francisco, CA, c. 1907; Frye worked on the Palace Hotel #2 for Trowbridge and Livingston. Principal, Charles Crowninshield Frye, Architect, San Francisco, CA, c. 1909-1916. A Los Angeles Times newspaper article of 10/18/1916 noted that Frye was a "Boston and San Francisco architect." He practiced in San Francisco until 08/1916, when, it was said, he fled debts there and moved to Los Angeles, CA. (See "Architect Frye in Trip to Altar," Los Angeles Times, 10/18/1916, part I, p. 4.) Director, Los Angeles County Charities Relief Program, Los Angeles, CA, c. 1932; Director, Civil Works Administration (CWA), Los Angeles, CA, beginning in 11/1933; in his obituary, the Los Angeles Times indicated that Frye "...resigned soon afterward to supervise only white-collar projects." (See "Frye Funeral Service Today," Los Angeles Times, 11/09/1937. p. A1.)

In 1909, Frye was a Regisitered Architect in the State of California, working in the state's Northern District.

B,A. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1902;

The Harvard University Class of 1902 Directory indicated that Frye lived at 314 Fourth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, in 1902. In 1905, Frye lived at 205 West 102d Street, New York, NY, and worked in an office at 424 5th Avenue. While working in San Francisco, CA, for Trowbridge and Livingston (c. 1907), Frye lived at 2380 Green Street. Two years later, Frye operated his own office at 625 Market Street, San Francisco, and lived at 721 Post Street. He continued to relocate within San Francisco in 1910, working at 127 Montgomery Street and residing at 755 Pine Street. Frye died of a heart attack in his home at 8420 Romaine Street, West Hollywood, CA.

Frye married at least three times. He divorced his first wife, Elizabeth Belle Graff Frye, the daughter of a steel manufacturer from Pittsburgh, PA, in 1912. He was remarried in 1916 to Janet West Jordan, of Salinas, CA. At his death in 1937, Frye was married to Rosalie Barker Frye.

When Francis Chase, a merchant of Boston, MA, died, he left his substantial estate solely to Frye.