Ralph Cram

Ralph Adams Cram designed mainly in the Gothic style and adopted the theories of the Englishman John Ruskin. Cram was strongly religious, which is based on the impressions of a Christmas Eve in 1887 in Roma, where he studied classical architecture. In 1892 he became a partner of Charles F. Wentworth and Frank William Ferguson. From 1913, the office was called Cram & Ferguson. He was specialized in the construction of churches and office buildings. From 1907-29, he was the Supervising Architect at Princeton University. For some time, he worked as professor of architecture and head of the School of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology near Boston.

Cram entered the architecture competition with the design of stained glass windows. He took over the construction of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York for the second phase of construction. He changed the style from Romanesque to Gothic. The opening of the full size nave of the Cathedral was celebrated in 1941. The building, which was to become the biggest church, is still uncompleted.