In 1868, she moved with her family to Dresden, Germany, where she remained for five years.In 1873, she married Schuyler and lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and they had one child, born in February 1875. She began writing in 1876. The first woman architectural critic, she grew in influence in the 1880's.

She was president of the Public Education Association of New York.

In 1893, she wrote "Fifth Avenue", in The Century Magazine, which examined the new development around Central Park.

She was elected an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. In 1910, she received the degree of D. Litt. from Columbia University, the accomplishment being an extraordinary one for a woman at that time.

She was awarded the 1924 American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals.

Her writings include:

• Henry Hobson Richardson and his Works (1888)
• English Cathedrals (1892; fourth edition, 1892)
• Art out of Doors (1893)
• Should We Ask for the Suffrage? (1894)
• One Man Who was Content (1896)
• Niagara, a Description (1901)
• History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century (1909)
• Poems (1910)