Ralph Adams Cram

About

Designer of many schools and churches, usually in the Gothic Revival style; honored on the December 16 feast day of the U.S. Episcopal Church. An American Institute of Architects fellow.

Before Fame

He studied classical architecture in Rome after working for five years for the famed architectural firm, Rotch & Tilden. His conversion to Anglo-Catholicism came while attending an 1887 Christmas Eve mass in Rome.

Trivia

His firm designed the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Family Life

He married Elizabeth Carrington Reed in 1900 and had three children: Mary Carrington Cram, Ralph Wentworth Cram, and Elizabeth Strudwick Cram. He established the family burial site at the St. Elizabeth's Memorial Churchyard.

Associated With

He was born in the same state as the 14th U.S. president, Franklin Pierce.