In 1889 he resigned from government service in order to pursue a career as a freelance architect, moving to Berlin where between 1889 and 1901 he was working in partnership with Hans Grisebach under the name Grisebach und Dinklage.[2] One of their last commissions together was the neogothicSchlesisches Tor (literally "Silesian Gate") Station in Berlin-Kreuzberg which was designed primarily by Dinklage.
In 1901 Grisebach resigned from their partnership, and Dinklage took Ernst Paulus [de], till then an employee of the firm, as his new partner. The firm was reconfigured as Dinklage und Paulus.[2] In 1916 it was August Dinklage, now aged 66, who retired from the partnership. During the Dinklage und Paulus years the partnership was responsible for several new churches in Berlin.