Coe was an early pupil of Scott’s, having arrived in the office just before the Hamburg Competition. He worked on drawings of Hamburg Cathedral in 1844. He went into partnership with E. Goodwin from 1848-55 and with Robinson in 1875. With H. E. Hofland in 1857, he found himself in competition with Scott over the Foreign Office design, the partnership originally triumphing with the first premium in 1857.