Rosse studied architecture and design at the Royal College of Art, London. He later graduated with a BA from Stanford University. Moved to California with his wife, the landscape architect Sophia Helena Luyt, to work on decoration designs for the Netherlands pavilion at the Panama-Pacific Expo in San Francisco in 1915. Began work as set and costume designer for the stage. In 1918, headed the Design Department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In New York, 1923-28, working on design for vaudeville, theatre drama and musicals. Arrived in Hollywood in 1929. Won an Oscar for King of Jazz (1930). Under contract at Universal, 1930-32, famously working on the set design for Frankenstein (1931). From 1948, resident stage designer at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.
