Founded by Ralph Adams Cram and Charles Francis Wentworth in 1889 Cram & Ferguson Architects have been in continuous practice for 126 years. Cram and his third partner Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue developed Christian academic and religious architecture to a high art form in America. Their churches and college buildings continue to be celebrated today for their timeless quality and good design.

We continue today to utilize the traditional forms and methods pioneered by our founders. The archives of the firm, extending to 100,000 drawings and photographs and including work on some 2000 buildings of all types in 44 states and several foreign countries provides a “knowledge base” for the proper design of new work inspired by Classical American , Gothic and Romanesque buildings and details many of which have been lost to modern architecture.

Our Principal, Ethan Anthony AIA continues to design today with the traditional forms and methods pioneered by our founders. He utilizes the archives of the firm, extending to 100,000 drawings and photographs and including work on some 500 churches in 44 states and several foreign countries. This extraordinary body of work provides a “knowledge base” for the proper design of new work in the Christian styles of Gothic and Romanesque that had previously been lost to modern architecture.

Mr. Anthony studied the archives for two years, examining the drawings and developing a detail base for new work. This was further reinforced by eight years of work on restoring and repairing century old historic buildings designed by the firm. During this ten-year period Mr. Anthony learned to efficiently apply modern materials and methods to building in traditional styles. It is critical to understand how to achieve the Gothic ideals in modern materials in an efficient and cost effective way.

Mr. Anthony has continued the firm tradition of careful study of the original models. Mr. Anthony spends each summer in Europe researching churches that have been designed in an unbroken succession from the first days of Christianity in the deserts of Judea to the end of the first great era in the reformation. During the last five years Mr. Anthony has visited England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. In these trips he has visited hundreds of churches, monasteries and Cathedrals to photograph and document the design characteristics.