Lilian Bridgman career as an architect and designer develops over Arts and Crafts movement. Although her work was not of the most recognized by her contemporaries, she built houses which are now part of the historical heritage monument in the city of Berkeley. She moved to Berkeley in 1891, where she studied at the University of California with Professor Joseph LeConte. With her thesis, The Origin of Sex in Fresh-Water Algae, obtained the degree of Master of Science in 1893.

Between 1893 and 1912 Bridgman teaches physics and chemistry at different schools and colleges in California, including California School of Mechanical Arts in San Francisco. During these years Lilian Bridgman also writes short stories and poetry published in magazines such as Overland Monthly, Harper's and Century Magazine. In 1899, thanks to an innate skill that always showed for drawing, encouraged and advised by his personal friend the architect Bernard Maybeck, she designs and builds his own house, near the Blackberry Canyon in Berkeley. In 1912 she returns to the University of California, this time to study architecture and obtained in 1915, at the age of forty-nine, her professional license by the State of California. Despite not being recognized as other architects such as Julia Morgan, Bridgman works constantly designing at least fifteen homes throughout her career. After the First World War received her first major commission, the Bioletti House. A large fire destroys North Berkeley in 1923. Along with other local architects, plays a decisive role in rebuilding the area.