Born in England, Snook emigrated to the United States with his family as a child. He was trained as a carpenter in his father's carpentry business, and worked as a bookkeeper and draftsman there as well. He was largely self-taught as an architect. His first work in the field was in partnership with
William Beer from 1837 to 1840, then in 1842 he joined the firm of
Joseph Trench. Within five years he was the junior partner in the firm, which became Trench and Snook, in which capacity he was the designer of the
A. T. Stewart department store (1846) at 280
Broadway between
Duane and
Rector Streets, the first department store in America. The store was the first
Anglo-Italianate style building in New York, set a style for New York commercial hotels that lasted until mid-century. In Snook's partnership with Trench he was also the architect of the
brownstone-sheathed
Metropolitan Hotel (1851–52) – erected in the same "palazzo" style – on Broadway at
Prince Street; the Boreel Building (1849–50), a full block building bounded by Broadway, Cedar, Thames, and Temple Streets, the site of the former City Hotel, which Trench and Snook's palace hotels had rendered out-of-date; and the marble-clad
St. Nicholas Hotel (1854) on Broadway between
Broome and
Spring Streets; although the design of the last has also been attributed to
Griffith Thomas. ==Solo practitioner==