Cram and Ferguson: Selected Recent Projects (Spring 2023)

SELECTED RECENT PROJECTS

Celebrating our 134rd year in 2023

Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church Houston, TX

About the Firm

Cram, Wentworth and later, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue developed Christian religious architecture to a high art form in America. Their churches and collegiate buildings continue to be celebrated today for their timeless quality and elegant design. Founded by Ralph Adams Cram and Charles Francis Wentworth in 1889, Cram and Ferguson Architects began a 130 year tradition in fine American architecture.

Today, our Principal, Ethan Anthony AIA, continues the tradition using and improving the forms and methods pioneered by our founders. We utilize the archives of the firm, which extend to some 100,000 drawings, 10,000 photographs, and includes work on over 500 churches and academic buildings in 44 states and several foreign countries. This extraordinary body of work provides a knowledge base for the proper design of new buildings in Gothic and Romanesque styles including methods lost to modern architecture.

In addition to studying the firm archives for two years, Mr. Anthony published the first comprehensive survey of the firm’s work and has headed the firm’s campaign to restore and repair many century-old historic buildings designed by the firm. During the last decade, Mr. Anthony has developed new efficient methods for using modern materials on traditional buildings, a critical step to building in Gothic style in modern materials.

Today we also continue the firm’s tradition of careful study of original models. Mr. Anthony visits Europe annually to research and photograph churches dating from the first days of Christianity to the end of the sixteenth century. Over the last twenty years, he has visited dozens of churches, monasteries and Cathedrals in England, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany and Spain to photograph and document their design characteristics.

Building a House of the Spirit

Designing a building for a religious community is a specialty, so much more than mere brick and mortar, steel and glass. It is nothing less than expressing the ancient traditions and spiritual aspirations of its faith through built form. To accomplish this, we as architects are driven to employ our highest artistic skills as we give physical form to these heavenly realities.

Entering a house of worship can be a spiritual experience in itself. The interior of a church should calm and inspire the restless soul. A hush falls as we realize this is a holy place, a place set apart, a place of sanctuary and refuge. Each time we visit, our faith is renewed and we are brought to our knees in awe.

The Domus Dei, the house of the Lord, is the worthy home of the sacred liturgy, first and foremost. It is also the Domus Ecclesia, the house of the Church, where the community gathers for public worship and private devotion. It is, finally, where we honor and recall the holy men and women who came before us, uniting past and present in prayer, stone, mortar and stained glass.

St. Edward’s Chapel, The Casady School Oklahoma City, OK

Our Lady of Good Voyage Boston MA

Syon Abbey Roanoke, VA

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church

Winston-Salem, NC

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, NC, is a community known for both its charitable activities and its beautiful liturgy, drawing parishioners from as far away as Virginia. However, its traditional worship clashes with the bare modern interior of their church. Cram and Ferguson worked with rector Fr. Steven C. Rice and members of its vestry to produce a more transcendent vision for their church building.

The overall interior renovation and sacristy/vestry addition addresses both aesthetic and practical shortcomings of the current structure. The interior will now draw the eye to the chancel with a series of arches along the nave, with a new carved altarpiece and altar as the entire focus of the church. At its heart will be a traditional painted image depicting Biblical scenes. Above, stenciling depicting roses and lilies representing the Crucifixion and Resurrection connects the reredos visually with the new set of Gothic windows above. An elevated pulpit and sounding board, new carved altar rail, paneling, and clergy seating further dignify the renewed space.

An addition to the south of the chancel will house a new vestry, creating a place of prayer and preparation for before the liturgy, as well as ample vestment storage. The lower storey of the new vestry addition is being designed as a future location for a parish columbarium in the form of a small crypt chapel. The existing sacristy will be reconfigured to add more storage space and a dedicated area for incense preparation.

At the rear of the church, an extended choirloft makes up for seating lost to a previous organ installation, as well as providing an opportunity for a permanent font, a location for adult baptisms, and a more defined architectural and liturgical space for the baptistery overall.

A masterplan and presentation renderings showcasing this new vision for the parish led to a successful capital campaign, and the project is now in design development. Construction was completed in Spring 2021.

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Parish Ridgway, IL

In 2012, the historic St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ridgway, Illinois, was destroyed by a tornado, leaving only the original high altar standing. Fr. Stephen Beatty commissioned Cram and Ferguson to design a new church in a traditional style dedicated to their patron, the Native American Saint, Kateri Tekakwitha. The exterior is distinguished by a lofty spire visible far across the low, rolling countryside. While its exterior is faced with local limestone and trimmed in cast stone, the building echoes some of the themes of the original brick church, while drawing on a wider range of Gothic examples.

It is also designed with the contemporary needs of the parish community in mind. The nave leads the eye to the sanctuary, oriented eastward, which is centered on a new freestanding marble altar intended to complement the tabernacle and altar of reservation, saved from the storm that destoyed the original church. St. Kateri was completed in 2016.

AIACM Honor Award 2017

St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish Church

Charlottesville, VA

St. Thomas Aquinas, a vibrant and growing Dominican Order-staff ed parish serving the Catholic students of the University of Virginia and the local community, sought to replace an aging central-plan church with a more traditional and durable design capable of seating its expanding congregation.

The design combines traditional Virginia brick with Romanesque detailing and a liturgical cruciform plan with fan-shaped seating, improving circulation and sightlines and expressing a true sense of the sacred which instructs by form and symbol. Design began in 2016 and was completed in 2020.

At UVA, Jefferson employed a classical language of red brick and white wood. Much of the campus follows this lead. We utilized similar brick and pale cast stone, with complementary if distinct Byzantine and Romanesque details. The design serves as a sacred parallel and commentary on Jefferson’s UVA.

The secularist Jefferson placed his iconic library at UVA’s center, representing reason and learning. We placed a sacred dome at the church’s center. Our rotunda is contained within a Byzantine-style square cross plan. Altar and furnishings were crafted to our design in Italy and are of Carrara marble, embellished with relief carvings and contrasting colonnettes of Rosso Barocco stone. Stone flooring features Cosmatesque-inspired patterns in similar rich colors. Above are wood ceilings and expansive arches that span the Transepts, creating a rhythmic serenade around the dome. Despite its relatively low height (55 feet), we feel the sensation of a great volumetric expression.

Church of the Incarnation Highlands,

NC

The Church of the Incarnation sits at the heart of Highlands’ vibrant downtown. Founded in 1894 as a mission of the diocese, the new community built its first sanctuary two years later. The historic white clapboard chapel, an icon of Highlands, still anchors the church’s complex at the corner of North 5th Street and Main. A new church hall was built in 1950. By the 1990s, the parish community had grown considerably, with summer members coming from Episcopal churches across the southern and eastern United States. To accommodate these numbers, a new sanctuary, classrooms, offices and an expanded kitchen and hall were added in 2002.

As the parish, now well into its second hundred years, considers the future, it is apparent that the expanded complex stilldoes not meet their current and projected needs. While it suitably expanded the pre-1950 parish plant, the whole remains incomplete.

The new sanctuary requires a liturgical update and a greater sense of sacrality and warmth in its color and ornamentation. It also lacks a coherent presence on Main Street, and a logical entry path from 5th Street through the existing structure. A welcoming expression of entry at the new sanctuary and also at the existing 5th Street entrance is desired, as well as resolving the current interface between the new and old parts of the complex.

The masterplan proposes to build on the promise of the existing structure to create a harmonious and welcoming home for the Church of the Incarnation’s next century of life.

Construction was completed in 2022.

Shrine of Our Lady of Good Voyage Boston, MA

Originally founded in 1952 to serve as a mission to dock workers and sailors, The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Voyage planned to relocate to a new site, also on the waterfront. Cram and Ferguson was commissioned to create an interior for the new shrine.

The interior pays tribute both to the community’s maritime history and the heritage of the Archdiocese through incorporating repurposed stained glass from closed churches as well as furnishings and decorations, and nautical imagery imbued with sacred themes, such as the Star of the Sea, rope work patterns, and dolphins, a symbol of the Christian faithful first seen in the catacombs. On entering we arrive at the shrine to Our Lady holding the Christ Child on one arm and the ship of our life’s fortunes on the other. The sculpture is hand-carved, polychromed Linden wood custom made for the Shrine by the studio of Johannes Albl in Germany.

The main exterior wood plank doors feature handwrought nautical-themed anchor and fish hinges made by Carl and Susan Close. On the right side in stained glass, Our Lady holds a ship in her arms to the left is St. Peter with a net, his fish and ship behind him. Above the door in glass are the arms of Pope Francis and Cardinal O’Malley, all created by Lyn Hovey from designs by Cram and Ferguson.

The great wooden roof of the nave (from the Latin, navis, for ship), recalls the ship’s carpenters who built many church roofs. The columns support an arcade lining the sides of the center aisle that recalls the great Roman basilicas that were the first Christian churches. The arcade features ship models recalling the the ship of our soul’s earthly voyage, the ship of the Church, and the ex-votos of past mariners.

The nave inscription is from Psalm 107:23

They that go down to the sea in ships, doing business in the great waters, these have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep, and they cried to the Lord and he turned the storm into a breeze and it’s waves were still.

Some of the stained glass for the new shrine comes from four former parishes around Boston. The lancets on the sides of the nave are from the former Holy Trinity Church on Shawmut Avenue and the former Our lady of the Assumption, Chelsea. The rose came from the former St. Augustine’s in South Boston and the great altar windows are from the former St Catherine of Siena in Charlestown.

The baptismal font is from St. Cecilia Parish, Back Bay, the rear altarpiece is from the former Our Lady of Victories in Bay Village and the front altar is composed of elements from a side altar at the former Holy Trinity Boston.

The wooden paneling on the rear wall and in the arches to each side of the Sanctuary was handmade in Colombia and the side wall panels feature hand-carved linenfold paneling in the style of English Gothic churches.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Voyage was completed in 2018.

His Eminence Cardinal Sean O’Malley dedicates the Shrine.

St. Andrew’s Catholic Church Myrtle Beach, SC

Saint Andrew Catholic Church’s roots in Myrtle Beach go back to 1929, when it was founded as a mission of St. Mary’s in Georgetown. To house an expanding parish, the existing church was constructed in 1964 and renovated in 1993. With the Catholic community in Myrtle Beach continuing to grow, the parish approached Cram and Ferguson Architects in 2017 to produce a masterplan to expand the structure and address the building’s needs, functional, liturgical, and aesthetic.

The baptismal font will be provided a new surrounding that appropriately celebrates the liturgical meaning of the rite of baptism.

The work proposed in the Master Plan unifies the disparate parts of the original building and its subsequent interventions. The result is a harmonious whole, replacing previous, now-dated interventions with a timeless architectural language. The Master Plan addresses not only the present physical shortcomings of the structure in terms of layout, seating and handicap accessibility, but also considers the parish’s future as a beacon of the Catholic faith both to the tourists and permanent population of the Myrtle Beach area.

FURNISHINGS

Our Lady of Good Voyage

Boston, MA

Right and Left: The ambo for Our Lady of Good Voyage was designed and produced by Cram and Ferguson Architects to effortlessly fit into the space near the altar to match the woodwork on the screens and floor design. It was then built by the same craftsmen in Colombia and shipped to Boston MA.

Oratory of SS. Gregory and Augustine

St. Louis, MO

Below: The Oratory of SS. Gregory and Augustine is a personal parish established by the Catholic archdiocese and staffed by the Benedictine Monks of St. Louis Abbey. A set of original furnishings—altar, reredos, confessional and shrine base— designed and produced by Cram and Ferguson Architects transformed an ordinary space inside St. Anselm Parish Center in St. Louis, Missouri, into a chapel fit for the sacred liturgy. The woodwork was fabricated according to the firm’s designs by skilled craftsmen in Colombia.

Tabernacle Shrine

Proposed Design

Above: This design in an Italian Gothic style incorporates the themes and style of Fra Angelico and feature symbols associated with the patron saint of the church it was intended for.

St. Kateri Parish

Ridgway, IL

Right: For St. Kateri, a new marble altar was designed and crafted to harmonize with the surviving 19th century high altar, now serving as a tabernacle surround. The new altar features red marble colonettes recalling Christ’s blood in their color and hand-sculpted reliefs of the Alpha and the Omega flanking an image of the Lamb of God seated on the book closed with seven seals.

St. St. Kateri Tekakwitha Ridgway, IL

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Denver, CO

THE TEAM

ETHAN ANTHONY, AIA, ICTP PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT

Education:

University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon: Bachelor of Architecture (class of 1980)

Boston Architectural Center School of Architecture, Boston, Massachusetts, 1972-78

Licenses:

NCARB, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania South Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin

Member: INTBAU, AIA, ICTP and AIACM

Recognition:

2017 – AIA Central MA Design Awards: Valley of Our Lady Monastery, WI; St Kateri Tekakwitha, IL St Andrew’s, CO

2015 – AIA Central MA Design Awards: St Edward’s Chapel Casady School, Oklahoma City, OK

2007 - Macael Award to the Architect: Spain for Syon Abbey, Copper Hill, VA

2006 - Venice Biennale: 10th International Architecture Exhibition Cities of Stone: Project South Catalogue, September 10-November 19, 2006, Venice, Italy

2004 - Golden Trowel Award: Houston, Texas Masonry Institute for Our Lady of Walsingham

1993 - IFRAA Honor Award for Unbuilt Architecture: “Cathedral in the Woods”

One of 13 projects selected from 120 International entries.

Selected Worship Projects:

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church: Winston-Salem, NC 2021

Additions and Renovations

Church of the Incarnation: Highlands, NC 2018 to present

Additions and Renovations

St. John University and Student Center: Stillwater, OK 2017 to present

New Church and Student Center

Project for a Cathedral for a Western City

New 2,000 seat cathedral

Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church: Charlottesville, VA, 2016 to 2020

New 1,200-seat Catholic Church for University Parish

Sisters of St Thomas Aquinas: Brooksville, FL 2016 to present

New Church and Convent

Cathedral of the Holy Cross: Boston, MA, 2014-2016

Belfry Renovation

Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel: Boston, MA, 2014-2017

Interior Design for a new 200-seat Gothic chapel

St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish: Ridgway, IL 2013-2015

New 450-seat Catholic Church

Valley of Our Lady Monastery, Hollandale, WI, 2011-2013

Design for Monastery

St. John Neumann Catholic Church: Farragut, TN, 2005 to 2008

New Church

St. Edward’s Chapel, Casady School: Oklahoma City, OK, 2002-2011

Church Addition

St. Andrew’s Church: Denver Colorado, 2002-2009

Master Plan, Addition and Restoration

Syon Abbey: Copper Hill, Virginia, 2002-2008

New Church and Monastery

George J. Records Family Mausoleum, Oklahoma City, OK, 2002-2005

New Mausoleum

Our Lady of Walsingham Roman Catholic Church: Houston, Texas, 2000-2003

New Church

Phillips Chapel, Canterbury School: Greensboro, North Carolina, 1999-2003

New Church

Selected Publications:

“Bracing for the Storm,” Faith and Form, January 2017

Proceedings of the 2009 Colman Conference; The Colman Society for the Catholic Liturgy

The Venice Charter Revisited; “On Number Nine,” Cambridge, England 2010

The Architecture of Ralph Adams Cram and His Firm: WW Norton , NY March 2007

KEVIN HOGAN, PROJECT MANAGER

Education:

Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA 1992-1996: Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering Technology

New Worship:

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church: Winston-Salem, NC 2021

Additions and Renovations

Church of the Incarnation: Highlands, NC 2018 to present

Additions and Renovations

St. John University and Student Center: Stillwater, OK 2017 to present

New Church and Student Center

Project for a Cathedral for a Western City

New 2000 seat cathedral

Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church: Charlottesville, VA, 2016 to 2020

New 1,200-seat Catholic Church for University Parish

Sisters of St Thomas Aquinas: Brooksville, FL 2016 to present

New Church and Convent

Our Lady of Good Voyage: Boston, MA 2014-2017

Interior design for a new 200-seat Gothic chapel

Chapel of the Holy Cross: Holderness School, NH 2014 to 2015

Extension to historic school chapel

Messiah Lutheran Church: South Windsor, CT 2014 to present

Extension and renovation of church and campus

St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish: Ridgway, IL 2013-2015

New 450-seat Catholic church

A Church to Seat 700: TX 2012

New Sanctuary and Education Building

Valley of Our Lady Monastery, Hollandale, WI, 2011-2013

Design for Monastery

St. John Vianney Catholic Church: Fishers, IN 2007 to present

New Church

St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church: Hampshire, IL 2005 to present.

New Church

St. John Neumann Catholic Church: Farragut, TN 2005-2008

New Church

Syon Abbey: Roanoke, VI 2002-2008

New Church and Monastery for Benedictine Monks of Syon Abbey

George J. Records Family Mausoleum: Oklahoma City, OK 2002-2005

New Family Mausoleum

Our Lady of Walsingham Roman Catholic Church: Houston, TX 2000-2003

New Church

Phillips Chapel, Canterbury School: Greensboro, NC 1999-2003

New Church

Historic Preservation:

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church: Malden, MA, 2000 to present

Restoration of front elevation, slate and copper roofs; existing conditions survey and accessibility design

Chapel of St. Gabriel the Archangel: Norwood, MA, 2011 to present.

Chapel Renovation

St. Edward’s Chapel, Casady School: Oklahoma City, OK 2002-2010

Church Addition

St. Andrew’s Church: Denver, CO 2002-2009

Master Plan, Church Addition and Restoration

Hunt Memorial Restoration: Nashua, NH 2002-2011

Window, masonry, roof restoration, design and coordination for HVAC installation, full renovation

All Saints Episcopal Church: Peterborough, NH 1997-2001

Cloister addition to historic church

Saint George’s Chapel, Saint George’s School: Middletown, RI 2000

Existing Conditions Survey

Phillips Church, Phillips Exeter Academy: Exeter, NH 1997-2002

Preservation planning, Programming, Alterations & Renovations

MATTHEW G. ALDERMAN, KM, KHS PROJECT DESIGNER

Education:

University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN: Bachelor of Architecture

Studied under noted church designers Thomas Gordon Smith and Duncan G. Stroik Rambusch Prize for Religious Architecture (2006)

Projects worked on at Cram and Ferguson:

St. Andrew Catholic Church: Myrtle Beach, SC 2018 to present Additions and Renovations

Church of the Incarnation: Highlands, NC 2018 to present Additions and Renovations

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church: Winston-Salem, NC 2021

Additions and Renovations

Project for a Cathedral for a Western City

New 2,000 seat cathedral

St. John University and Student Center: Stillwater, OK 2017 to present New Church and Student Center

Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church: Charlottesville, VA, 2016 to 2020

New 1,200-seat Catholic Church for University Parish

Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel: Boston, MA, 2014-2016

Interior design for a new Gothic chapel

Chapel of the Holy Cross: Holderness School, NH, 2014 to present

Extension to school chapel

St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, Ridgway, IL, 2013-2015

New 450-seat Catholic church

Valley of Our Lady Monastery, Hollandale, WI, 2011-2013

Design for Monastery

Previous Independent Projects:

Our Lady of the Rosary, Greenville, SC

Furnishing design (baldachin, altar, retroaltar, and ambo), flooring and interior concepts

A Catholic Church in the Upper Midwest

Interior improvements, consulting, new monumental sign, and stained glass

Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Lander, WI

Designs for new altarpiece, tester, ambo and matched shrines

St. Paul University Catholic Church, Madison, WI

Exterior design and architectural consulting; chapel and furnishing design

Most Holy Mother of God Catholic Church, Vladivostok, Russia

Design of new altarpiece/organ case, shrines, font, altar and other interior elements

Selected Radio Appearances:

With Fr. Jason Kulczynski, “Aim High,” Radio Maria, 2014, 2015, 2016 With “The Son Rise Morning Show” on EWTN Radio, 2009 With Gus Lloyd, “Seize the Day,” The Catholic Channel, 2006, 2007

Selected Publications:

“Re-consecration in the East: Pre-Revolutionary Church Restored and Re-consecrated in Vladivostok,” The Catholic World Report, March 2008. Milbrath, Randall L., and Matthew Alderman, “The Light Shines in the Darkness: The New St. Paul University Catholic Center in Madison, WI,” Adoremus Bulletin, February 27, 2019

Alderman, Matthew. “Devils in the Details: The Return of the Gargoyle,” Comment, June 11, 2012.

Alderman, Matthew. From Meeting-House to House of God,” The Living Church, January 27, 2012. Cover story.

Alderman, Matthew. Illustrations for Sunday and Weekday Missals, HarperCollins UK, 2012.

Alderman, Matthew. “Lost between Sea and Sky: Looking for Padre Pio in Renzo Piano’s Pilgrimage Church,” Sacred Architecture, 2010. Alderman, Matthew. Illustrations for the Revised Roman Missal, LTP, Chicago, 2011.

Alderman, Matthew. “Heaven Made Manifest: An Architectural Solution for The Spirit of the Liturgy.” Antiphon 12, 3, 2008, with some illustrations by author. Based on Society for Catholic Liturgy presentation, 2007.

Alderman, Matthew. “Incarnating the Mass: Rediscovering the Liturgical Beauty of Christian Architecture.” Saint Austin Review (StAR), May/June 2007, with some illustrations by author.

Other Distinctions and Relevant Experiences

Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (invested 2021)

Knight of Magistral Grace, Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta (invested 2016) Qualified for Compostela [pilgrimage completion certificate, 100 km walked], Camino de Santiago, Spain, 2015 Volunteer “Charioteer” [wheelchair attendant], American Association of the Order of Malta Lourdes Pilgrimage, France, 2016

Accredited as Professor of Church Architecture, Pontifical University of Santa Croce, Rome, Summer 2015, “The Rome Experience”

Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church Houston, TX

Saint John Neumann Catholic Church Farragut, TN