Cram and Ferguson Architects is an architecture firm based in Concord, Massachusetts. The company was founded as a partnership in 1889 by the "preeminent American Ecclesiastical Gothicist"[1]Ralph Adams Cram and Charles Francis Wentworth. In 1890 they were joined by Bertram Goodhue, who was made a partner in 1895.
The firm name has changed as partners have changed and names have included: Cram and Wentworth, Cram Goodhue and Wentworth, Cram Goodhue and Ferguson, Cram and Ferguson, Cram and Ferguson Architects, Hoyle, Doran and Berry and HDB/Cram and Ferguson all successor firms to the original partnership of Ralph Adams Cram and Charles Francis Wentworth.
Frank Ferguson, their structural engineer, was made a partner on Wentworth's death in 1905 making the firm one of the earliest A/E firms.[2][3] Hoyle, Doran and Berry, Inc. the partnership formed by Alexander Hoyle and John Doran continuing the unbroken succession descending from original Cram collaborators in 1958, HDB/Cram and Ferguson was the partnership of David H. Hulihan long time employee of Cram and Ferguson and Ethan Anthony AIA. That partnership was reformed in 2008 on the retirement of President David H. Hulihan and the firm reverted to its traditional name of Cram and Ferguson Architects under the leadership of Ethan Anthony AIA.
In 1931, in Cram's waning years, Arthur Tappan North wrote in his Monograph on the firm's work:[4]
Some architectural styles such as the Gothic manifestations in several countries, were invented for and dedicated to a specific use which has continued to this day in the original or modified forms. It was this continuity of use that was the basis of the conception of Cram and Wentworth and their successors, including Cram and Ferguson, of the ideal American church. A consistent adherence to this ideal did not in any manner prevent their work assuming a wide range of individual expressions, a testimony to their extensive knowledge and understanding, liberally expressed.
Among a very small number of American Architects, Ralph Adams Cram is a distinguished contributor to (architectural) literature, not confined to the purely technical aspects of architecture but to it sociological and philosophical attributes. Dr. Cram is equally distinguished for his contributions to architecture, which, although predominantly ecclesiastical in character, embrace many building projects of different types. While he has always been recognized as the senior member of the firm, he has always unselfishly accorded to his associates a full measure of credit for their cooperation and equal contributions to its successes.
— Arthur Tappan North
Since 1990 Cram and Ferguson under the leadership of the American Architect; Ethan Anthony is completing new church and academic work including: the St. Thomas Aquinas University Church at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Voyage at Boston Seaport, Massachusetts and the St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church at Ridgway, Illinois. Major work the last fifteen years, the Benedictine Monastery of Syon Abbey on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd, Virginia, The Phillips Chapel at the Canterbury School in Greensboro, North Carolina and The Edward's Chapel at The Casady School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In 1890 Mr. Cram became associated with Charles F. Wentworth and later with Bertram G. Goodhue, who became a partner in 1895. Frank W. Ferguson became a partner in 1899
Mr. Wentworth died in 1899. Mr. Goodhue conducted the New York Office of the firm for some time before his connection was terminated in 1913
On July 1, 1925, Frank E. Cleveland, Chester Godfrey and Alexander E. Hoyle were admitted to partnership and a new contract was entered into on October 5, 1926. Now four partners
Mr. Ferguson died October 4, 1926. (Born November 3, 1861, Portsmouth, N.H.)
Mr. Cram died September 22, 1942, and the partnership continued with the three remaining partners. (Born December 16, 1863, Hampton Falls, N.H.)
On January 1, 1944, Chester A. Brown, John T. Doran and William H. Owens were admitted to partnership. The firm now consisted of six equal partners
Mr. Cleveland died July 30, 1950, and a new partnership was entered into on August 1, 1950, with the five remaining partners. (Born Nov. 11, 1877, Richmond, P.Q., Canada)
Mr. Godfrey died May 5, 1952, and a new partnership was entered into on July 15, 1952, with the remaining four partners – Messrs. Hoyle, Brown, Doran Owens. (Born April 17, 1878, at Hampton, N.H.)
Mr. Owens retired April 30, 1953, and a new partnership was entered into on May 1, 1953, with the three remaining partners – Messrs. Hoyle, Brown and Doran
On May 1, 1954, Maurice A. Berry and Oscar H. Cederlund were admitted to partnership. The firm now consisted of five partners
Mr. Cederlund died April 23, 1956. Partnership dissolved April 30, 1956. New partnership dated May 1, 1956. Partners now: Messrs. Hoyle, Brown, Doran, Berry
Mr. Brown retired April 30, 1957. Partnership dissolved April 30, 1957. On May 1, 1957, a new contract was entered into by Messrs. Hoyl, Doran and Berry
On January 25, 1957, the new was changed to Hoyle, Doran and Berry
On April 30, 1961, Mr. Hoyle retired. Partnership dissolved April 30, 1961. On May 2, 1961, the following were admitted to partnership: Nisso T. Aladjem, Frank De Bruyn, Robert W. Hadley, Charles P. Harris. There were now six partners
Mr. Hadley died January 3, 1964. Interim agreement dated January 20, 1964
Mr. Harris retired January 3, 1966, and a new contract was entered into on January 31, 1966, with the four remaining partners: Messrs. Doran, Berry, Aladjem, De Bruyn
On August 1, 1965, Austin J. Cribben Jr. was made a partner and a new contract was entered into on February 1, 1966. Partners: Messrs. Doran, Berry, Aladjem, De Bruyn, Cribben
Hoyle Doran& Berry Inc, was incorporated September 5, 1968; Major Stockholders: Doran, Berry, Aladjem, De Bruyn
Mr. Hoyle died January 2, 1969Austin Cribben
Mr. De Bruyn died November 15, 1972, after retiring July 31, 1972
Kevin Hogan, the project manager, has 20 years of experience with the firm and has participated in numerous major church and chapel projects as the leader for all phases of production and construction administration
Matthew Alderman has been the lead designer on many projects both with Cram and Ferguson and in his prior employments, including St. Kateri Catholic Church in Ridgway, Illinois, St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Charlottesville, Virginia, which is now under construction and Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel in Boston, Massachusetts.
^Shand-Tucci, Douglass (1978). Built in Boston: City and Suburb 1800-1950. New York: New York Graphic Society.
^ abcdefghijContemporary American Architects: Ralph Adams Cram, Cram and Ferguson. New York and London: Whittlesey House. 1931.
^ abcdefghijMuccigrosso, Robert (1980). American Gothic: The Mind and Art of Ralph Adams Cram. Washington DC: University Press of America. ISBN0819108847.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzAnthony, Ethan (2017). A Pocket Guide to the New England Architecture of Cram and Ferguson Architects (2 ed.). Concord, MA: Cram and Ferguson Architects LLC.
^Shand-Tucci, Douglass (1995). Boston Bohemia 1881-1900, vol. 1 Ralph Adams Cram: Life and Architecture. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
^ abShand-Tucci, Douglass (1974). Church Building in Boston 1720-1970 With and Introduction to the Work of Ralph Adams Cram and the Boston Gothicists. Concord, MA: The Rumford Press.
^ abcLanford, Sarah Drummond (1982). A Gothic Epitome: Ralph Adams Cram as Princeton's Architect. Princeton University: Princeton University Library.
