Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson

Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson was a partnership of Ralph Adams Cram, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, and Frank W. Ferguson, formed in 1897.  It was the successor to Cram, Wentworth, and Goodhue.  Charles Wentworth died in 1897 and Ferguson (who had joined the firm as a draftsman in 1891) was made a partner the same year.

Goodhue opened the firm’s offices in New York in the early 1900s after it secured the commission to design West Point, and Cram and Ferguson remained in Boston.  In 1913, Goodhue withdrew from the partnership and it became Cram and Ferguson.  Ferguson died in 1926 and Cram died in 1942, but the firm continued to operate under the name Cram and Ferguson.

Cram was a leading exponent of Gothic architecture and his firm is best known for its ecclesiastical and academic work, including numerous churches, the West Point campus; and the Princeton University Graduate College campus (Cram served as consulting architect to Princeton).  Churches designed during the 1897-1913 period of Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson include Emmanuel Church, Newport (1900); Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh (1904); Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, New York (1904); St. Thomas Church, New York City (1905-1913);  the redesign of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Devine in New York (1911); and many more.

For more information, see: Boston Bohemia 1881-1900: Ralph Adams Cram and his Architecture, by Douglass Shand-Tucci (University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst; 1995); and Ralph Adams Cram: An Architect’s Four Quests, by Douglass Shand-Tucci (University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst; 1995).

Back Bay Work

1907 334 Beacon (Remodeling)