Alfred Bendiner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After his family moved to Philadelphia, he attended Northeast High School in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts before entering the Army in 1918.
After World War I, Bendiner finished his higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor of architecture degree in 1922 and a master’s degree in 1927. In 1937, he served as artist for the University Museum’s archeological expedition to Tepe Gawra and Khafaji, Iraq. In 1960, he was architect to the University’s Tikal-Tikal archeological expedition to Guatemala.
During his career as an architect, Bendiner was associated with the firms of Stewardson & Page and of Paul Phillipe Cret; he also worked on his own as an architect. He held membership in F.A.I.A. and served as president for the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He was widely published, including Music to My Eyes (1952), Bendiner’s Philadelphia (1964), and contributions to Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and other publications.