Following completion of his master's degree, Weiss began an architectural practice with Keenan & Weiss until 1912, partnering with Walter Cook Keenan. After that, Weiss was in solo architectural practice. As of 1914, Weiss's architectural office was located in Suite 621 in the historic
Maison Blanche Building in New Orleans. Later, his office was located at 611 Common Street in New Orleans. Weiss was a member of the
American Institute of Architects. The firm then reorganized and continued operation without Weiss's involvement designing buildings such as the
Gem Theater. Weiss's designs, and those of his firm, were of various styles. These included
Spanish Colonial Revival and
Bauhaus Modern. However, their modern designs were generally more muted than what were common among European modern designs of the time. Because many of their projects were financed by the Public Works Administration, the designs show elements of
Beaux Arts classicism and
Art Deco, in what is often referred to as PWA Moderne. After Huey Long became governor of Louisiana in 1928, Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth were awarded many architectural design contracts for public buildings in Louisiana. This connection came about as Weiss had met Long in 1928 and subsequently his firm supported Long as he went through impeachment proceedings in 1929. Long had a vision of modernizing Louisiana, which included extensive building projects. Long needed suitable architecture for this purpose.
State government office buildings In 1930, then Governor Huey Long commissioned Weiss and his architectural firm to design a new state capitol building for Louisiana. While not specifying the design, Long desired a skyscraper with suitable artwork to depict the history of Louisiana. The new capitol building opened in 1932 at a cost of $5 million, in an
art deco design. The building is 430 feet tall with 34 storys and was then the tallest building in the
southern United States. The building, though monumental, is somewhat inefficient in that the floor space of individual storys is in many cases too small to accommodate a state agency, necessitating that various agencies be spread out in the capitol building. However, it centralized executive agencies in one location for efficiency gain. The building includes statues, frescoes, bronzes, and other artworks with historic symbolism. Symbolically, the building shows dominance of the executive branch of the Louisiana State Government over the other branches. The
Louisiana State Capitol building has some resemblance to the
Nebraska State Capitol building which was completed a few years before, in 1930, and is slightly smaller.
College campuses Huey Long was committed to expanding the state university system in Louisiana, beyond the original design of architect
Theodore C. Link. As Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth's relationship with the Long
political machine solidified, the firm received many design contracts for colleges and universities in Louisiana during the 1930s. The main campus of
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge went through significant expansion with funding supplemented by the Public Works Administration. Weiss's firm designed various academic buildings,
dormitories, and athletic facilities for the campus. Additionally, Long wanted the swimming pool at the university's
Huey P. Long Field House to be the largest swimming pool in the United States. To that end, Weiss's design for the facility included a swimming pool that was one foot longer than the next longest swimming pool in the United States at the time. Weiss and his architectural firm was to receive a 6% fee for their design. However, the original cost estimate of $8 million rose to $12.5 million. The PWA declined to pay a larger fee based on the higher cost, taking the position that all the architectural work was done before construction costs increased. The state government of Louisiana made up the difference. In the vernacular of the state employees, "de ducks were flying". The sculptor Alférez later alleged that Weiss frequently asked for more money to pay political debts of then
Governor Richard W. Leche, who was part of the Huey Long political machine. He also contended that Weiss inappropriately compromised in implementation of the hospital design for the purposes of obtaining money to pay political debts. None of the allegations were confirmed in subsequent investigations by authorities. ==Scandal==