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Cram, Ralph Adams, 1863-1942

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Ralph Adams Cram, circa 1890

Ralph Adams Cram, (December 16, 1863 - September 22, 1942), was an American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the gothic style.

Early life

Cram was born at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire into a Unitarian clerical family, and in his youth called himself an agnostic. He moved to Boston in 1881, at age 18, and spent five years in the architectural office of Rotch & Tilden, after which left for Rome. During an 1887 Christmas Eve mass in Rome, he had a dramatic conversion experience.^{[citation needed]} For the rest of his life, he remained a fervent Anglo-Catholic who self-identified as High Church Anglican.

Career

From 1898-1914, Cram was in partnership with Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in the Boston firm then known as Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson.

Cover of Time Magazine (December 13, 1926)

His work is represented on a number of campuses, including Cornell University, Sweet Briar College, University of Richmond, Williams College, Rice University, Wheaton College in Massachusetts, the United States Military Academy, St. George's School and Phillips Exeter Academy, but he is most closely associated with Princeton, where he served as Consulting Architect from 1907 to 1929.

Hunt Memorial Library in c. 1906, Nashua, New Hampshire

As an author, lecturer, and architect, Cram propounded the view that the Renaissance had been, at least in part, an unfortunate detour for western culture.^{[citation needed]} Cram argued that authentic development could come only by returning to Gothic sources for inspiration, as his "Collegiate Gothic" architecture did, with considerable success.