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52-475: Ralph Adams Cram , arguably the leading Gothic Revival architect and theoretician in the early 20th century, wrote about the appeal of the Gothic for educational facilities in his book The Gothic Quest: "Through architecture and its allied arts we have the power to bend men and sway them as few have who depended on the spoken word. It is for us, as part of our duty as our highest privilege to act...for spreading what

104-1024: A captain in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War . Elizabeth and Ralph had three children, Mary Carrington Cram, Ralph Wentworth Cram and Elizabeth Strudwick Cram. The family burial site is at the St. Elizabeth's Memorial Churchyard. The churchyard is adjacent to St Elizabeth's Chapel, which Cram designed. Cram and business partner Charles Wentworth started business in Boston in April 1889 as Cram and Wentworth. They had landed only four or five church commissions before they were joined by Bertram Goodhue in 1892 to form Cram, Wentworth and Goodhue. Goodhue brought an award-winning commission in Dallas (never built) and brilliant drafting skills to

156-562: A dramatic conversion experience. For the rest of his life, he practiced as a fervent Anglo-Catholic who identified as high-church Anglican . In the 1890s, Cram was a key figure in "social-controversial-inspirational" groups including the Pewter Mugs and the Visionists . In 1900, Cram married Elizabeth Carrington Read at New Bedford, Massachusetts . She was the daughter of Clement Carrington Read and his wife. Read had served as

208-619: A handwritten description of his own "English Collegiate Gothic Mansion" of 1853 for the Harrals of Bridgeport, Connecticut. By the 1890s, the movement was known as "Collegiate Gothic". In his praise for Cope & Stewardson's Quadrangle Dormitories at the University of Pennsylvania , architect Ralph Adams Cram revealed some of the racial and cultural implications underlying the Collegiate Gothic: It was, of course, in

260-532: A measure. American heroism harks back to English heroism; the blood shed before Manila and on San Juan Hill was the same blood that flowed at Bosworth Field , Flodden , and the Boyne . Therefore the British base of the design is indispensable, for such were the racial foundations. Collegiate Gothic complexes were most often horizontal compositions, save for a single tower or towers serving as an exclamation. At

312-633: A medieval north Italian Romanesque style, more in keeping with Houston's hot, humid climate. A modernist in many ways, he designed Art Deco landmarks of great distinction, including the Federal Building skyscraper in Boston and numerous churches. For example, his design of the tower of the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh , was inspired by the Empire State Building . His work at Rice

364-470: A row of vigorous French Gothic-inspired buildings for Trinity College – Seabury Hall, Northam Tower, Jarvis Hall (all completed 1878) – in Hartford, Connecticut . Tastes became more conservative in the 1880s, and "collegiate architecture soon after came to prefer a more scholarly and less restless Gothic." Beginning in the late-1880s, Philadelphia architects Walter Cope and John Stewardson expanded

416-752: A student of Richard Morris Hunt from 1858 to 1860. In 1860, he formed a partnership with a fellow student in Hunt's office, Charles D. Gambrill , with a brief hiatus for service in the Civil War. Post served in the American Civil War under General Burnside at the battle of Fredericksburg and later rose to the rank of colonel in the New York National Guard. In 1867, Post founded his own architectural firm which expanded in 1904 when two of his sons, J. Otis and William Stone joined him to form become George B. Post and Sons. Post served as

468-832: A wedding gift for his son—and an excellent residential example of Gothic Revival architecture in America. Kenilwood remained in the Post family until it was purchased by Mike Tyson in 1988. Post also designed more staid public and semi-public structures including the New York Stock Exchange Building , the New York Times Building , the Bronx Borough Hall and the Wisconsin State Capitol . In 1893, Post

520-617: Is both the world's second tallest university building and Gothic-styled edifice. The tower contain a half-acre Gothic hall supported only by its 52-foot (16 m) tall arches. It is accompanied by the campus's other Gothic Revival structures by Klauder, including the Stephen Foster Memorial (1935–1937) and the French Gothic Heinz Memorial Chapel (1933–1938). A number of colleges and universities have commissioned major new buildings in

572-580: Is most closely associated with Princeton University , where he served as supervising architect from 1907 to 1929, during a period of major construction. The university awarded him a Doctor of Letters for his achievements. In 1907, he served as chairman of the American Institute of Architects' Committee on Education. For seven years he headed the Architectural Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Through

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624-495: Is true." Gothic Revival architecture was used for American college buildings as early as 1829, when "Old Kenyon" was completed on the campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio . Another early example was Alexander Jackson Davis 's University Hall (1833–37, demolished 1890), on New York University 's Washington Square campus. Richard Bond 's church-like library for Harvard College, Gore Hall (1837–41, demolished 1913), became

676-572: Is widely considered to be the resulting beautiful and sophisticated Yale campus. Rogers was criticized by the growing Modernist movement. His cathedral-like Sterling Memorial Library (1927–1930), with its ecclesiastical imagery and lavish use of ornament, came under vocal attack from one of Yale's own undergraduates: A modern building constructed for purely modern needs has no excuse for going off in an orgy of meretricious medievalism and stale iconography. Other architects, notably John Russell Pope and Bertram Goodhue (who just before his death sketched

728-733: The City College of New York 's new campus (1903–1907) at Hamilton Heights, Manhattan , in the style. The style was experienced up-close by a wide audience at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis , Missouri. The World's Fair and 1904 Olympic Games were held on the newly completed campus of Washington University , which delayed occupying its buildings until 1905. The movement gained further momentum when Charles Donagh Maginnis designed Gasson Hall at Boston College in 1908. Maginnis & Walsh went on to design Collegiate Gothic buildings at some twenty-five other campuses, including

780-485: The University of Pittsburgh , Charles Klauder was commissioned by University of Pittsburgh chancellor John Gabbert Bowman to design a tall building in the form of a Gothic tower. What he produced, the Cathedral of Learning (1926–37), has been described as the literal culmination of late Gothic Revival architecture. A combination of Gothic spire and modern skyscraper, the steel-frame, limestone-clad, 42-story structure

832-423: The 1920s, Cram was a public figure and frequently mentioned in the press. The New York Times called him "one of the most prominent Episcopalian laymen in the country". His work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics . He made news with his defense of Al Smith during his electoral campaign, when anti-Catholic rhetoric was used, saying "I... express my disgust at

884-415: The 1930s. Particularly important work includes the original campus of Rice University, Houston, as well as the library and first city hall of that city. Also notable is Cram's first church in the Boston area, All Saints, Dorchester . The successor firm is HDB/Cram and Ferguson of Boston. A leading proponent of disciplined Gothic Revival architecture in general and Collegiate Gothic in particular, Cram

936-628: The Baldwin Cottage (1879–80), a polychromatic exercise in the "Quaint Style" with bargeboards and half-timbering; John La Farge provided stained glass panels. Post also designed many of the gilded-age mansions found in Bernardsville, NJ and was credited more than anyone with selling wealthy New Yorkers on the idea of establishing a country home in the Somerset Hills . He designed Kenilwood—a grand home built in 1896–1897 as

988-527: The Boston office. Wentworth died in 1897 and the firm's name changed to Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson to include draftsman Frank W. Ferguson (1861–1926). Cram and Goodhue complemented each other's strengths at first but began to compete, sometimes submitting two differing proposals for the same commission. The firm won design of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1902, a major milestone in their career. They set up

1040-646: The Collegiate Gothic style in recent years. These include Princeton University's Whitman College , designed by Porphyrios Associates , and Benjamin Franklin College and Pauli Murray College , both designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects , at Yale University. The University of Southern California's USC Village was created as an inexpensive post-modern nod to collegiate revival. (Harley Ellis Devereaux, 2017). Ralph Adams Cram Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942)

1092-690: The Martyr and the Order of the White Rose. Traveling through Europe, Cram also befriended Catholic writers Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton , who have been accredited with influencing his views. He later became involved with a number of American Roman Catholic enterprises and co-founded the Catholic magazine Commonweal . Cram accepted papal primacy and frequently defended Catholicism against American anti-Catholic prejudice , though he never converted to

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1144-1011: The St. Chapelle in Paris. Desloge Chapel, which is associated with the Firmin Desloge Hospital and St. Louis University , in 1983, was declared a landmark by the Missouri Historical Society . In 1938, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician. 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 . Cram argued that authentic development could come only by returning to Gothic sources for inspiration, as his " Collegiate Gothic " architecture did, with considerable success. For his Rice University buildings, he favored

1196-535: The banks of Ravine Lake was relocated in 1917 to its present site and includes a golf course designed by A.W. Tillinghast . Many of Post's design's were landmarks of the era. Post's Equitable Life Building (1868–70), was the first office building designed to use passenger elevators; Post himself leased the upper floors when contemporaries predicted they could not be rented. His Western Union Telegraph Building (1872–75) at Dey Street in Lower Manhattan,

1248-523: The campus of Bryn Mawr College in an understated English Gothic style that was highly sensitive to site and materials. Inspired by the architecture of Oxford and Cambridge universities, and historicists but not literal copyists, Cope & Stewardson were highly influential in establishing the Collegiate Gothic style. Commissions followed for collections of buildings at the University of Pennsylvania (1895–1911), Princeton University (1896–1902), and Washington University in St. Louis (1899–1909), marking

1300-485: The campuses of American colleges. Examples include Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Boynton Hall, 1868, by Stephen C. Earle ); Yale College ( Farnam Hall , 1869–70, by Russell Sturgis ); the University of Pennsylvania ( College Hall , 1870–72, Thomas W. Richards); Harvard College ( Memorial Hall , 1870–77, William Robert Ware and Henry Van Brunt ); and Cornell University ( Sage Hall (1871–75, Charles Babcock ). In 1871, English architect William Burges designed

1352-860: The corner of East 57th Street and Fifth Avenue and was one of the most opulent single-family homes of its time. It featured a lavishly scrolled cast-iron gate forged in Paris (now in Central Park ), sculptural reliefs by Karl Bitter (now in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel ), an ornate reddish-brown marble fireplace sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art ), and elaborate interior decoration by Frederick Kaldenberg, John LaFarge , Philip Martiny , Frederick W. MacMonnies , Rene de Quelin, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his brother Julius. The mansion

1404-469: The critical neglect of Cram's work that it was "a phenomenon which has significantly distorted the study of America's modern architectural history... (Cram) deserves the same kind of international--and domestic--recognition accorded (all too often uncritically) to his contemporary Frank Lloyd Wright". Cram argued that the United States would be better off under a Semi-constitutional monarchy , with

1456-578: The design of the City College of New York 's main campus buildings, on loan from the New-York Historical Society . Post received the AIA Gold Medal in 1911. His extensive archive is in the collection at the New-York Historical Society . The Cornelius Vanderbilt II House , which Post designed in partnership with Richard Morris Hunt , was an English Jacobethan Gothic red-brick and limestone chateau that stood at

1508-517: The eminent architect and mediævalist Ralph Adams Cram achieves a memorably potent degree of vague regional horror through subtleties of atmosphere and description." Cram was a George Browne Post George Browne Post (December   15, 1837 – November   28, 1913), professionally known as George B. Post , was an American architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition . Active from 1869 almost until his death, he

1560-696: The firm's New York office, where Goodhue would preside, leaving Cram to operate in Boston. He designed the sanctuary for the First Unitarian Society in Newton which represents elements of his signature ecclesiastical style and was built in 1905. From 1907 to 1909, Cram was the editor of Christian Art . Cram's acceptance of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine commission in New York City in 1911 (on Goodhue's perceived territory) heightened

1612-531: The great group of dormitories for the University of Pennsylvania that Cope and Stewardson first came before the entire country as the great exponents of architectural poetry and of the importance of historical continuity and the connotation of scholasticism . These buildings are among the most remarkable yet built in America ... First of all, let it be said at once that primarily they are what they should be: scholastic in inspiration and effect, and scholastic of

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1664-465: The ignorance and superstition now rampant and in order that I may go on record as another of those who, though not Roman Catholics, are nevertheless Americans and are outraged by this recrudescence of blatant bigotry, operating through the most cowardly and contemptible methods." In around 1932, he designed the Desloge Chapel in St. Louis, MO, the Gothic chapel designed to echo the contours of

1716-521: The main buildings at Emmanuel College (Massachusetts), and the law school at the University of Notre Dame . Ralph Adams Cram designed a series of Collegiate Gothic buildings for the Princeton University Graduate College (1911–1917). James Gamble Rogers did extensive work at Yale University , beginning in 1917. Some critics claim he took historicist fantasy to an extreme, while others choose to focus on what

1768-541: The model for other library buildings. James Renwick Jr. 's Free Academy Building (1847–49, demolished 1928), for what is today City College of New York , continued in the style. Inspired by London's Hampton Court Palace , Swedish-born Charles Ulricson designed Old Main (1856–57) at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois . Following the Civil War , many idiosyncratic High Victorian Gothic buildings were added to

1820-495: The nascent beginnings of a movement that transformed many college campuses across the country. In 1901, the firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge created a master plan for a Collegiate Gothic campus for the fledgling University of Chicago , then spent the next 15 years completing it. Some of their works, such as the Mitchell Tower (1901–1908), were near-literal copies of historic buildings. George Browne Post designed

1872-416: The original version of Yale's Sterling Library from which Rogers worked), advocated for and contributed to Yale's particular version of Collegiate Gothic. When McMaster University moved to Hamilton, Ontario , Canadian architect William Lyon Somerville designed its new campus (1928–1930) in the style. American architect Alexander Jackson Davis is "generally credited with coining the term" documented in

1924-436: The religion itself. Cram wrote numerous publications and books on issues in architecture and religious devotion. Titles include: Cram also wrote fiction. A number of his stories, notably "The Dead Valley", were published in a collection entitled Black Spirits and White (Stone & Kimball, 1895). The collection has been called "one of the undeniable classics of weird fiction". H. P. Lovecraft wrote, "In 'The Dead Valley'

1976-507: The right to vote restricted to white men who owned a sufficient level of property. He lays out some of his monarchist beliefs in his work Invitation to Monarchy , which appeared in The American Mercury in 1936. Raised Unitarian , Cram converted to Anglo-Catholicism after a youthful visit to Rome . He later joined The Episcopal Church in the United States upon returning to his home country. Throughout his life, Cram

2028-486: The sculptor Karl Bitter and painter Elihu Vedder . Post was a founding member of the National Arts Club , serving as the club's inaugural president from 1898 to 1905. In 1905, his two sons were taken into the partnership, and they continued to lead the firm after Post's death, notably as the designers of many Statler Hotels in cities across the United States. From that time forward, the firm carried on under

2080-733: The sixth president of the American Institute of Architects from 1896 to 1899. He also trained architect Arthur Bates Jennings . Post designed many of the prominent private homes in various places, with many concentrated in New York City and Bernardsville, NJ . He also designed many prominent commercial and public buildings. A true member of the American Renaissance , Post engaged notable artists and artisans to add decorative sculpture and murals to his architectural designs. Among those who worked with Post were

2132-463: The stewardship of Post's grandson, Edward Everett Post (1904–2006) until the late twentieth century. Sarah Landau 's publication George B. Post, Architect: Picturesque Designer and Determined Realist (1998) inspired a retrospective exhibition in 1998–99 to revisit Post's work at the Society. In 2014, curator, architect George Ranalli presented an exhibition of Post's drawings and photographs of

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2184-541: The tension between the two. Architectural historians have attributed most of their projects to one partner or the other, based on the visual and compositional style, and the location. The Gothic Revival Saint Thomas Church was designed by them both in 1914 on Manhattan 's Fifth Avenue . It is the last example of their collaboration, and the most integrated and strongest example of their work together. Goodhue began his solo career on August 14, 1913. Cram and Ferguson continued with major church and college commissions through

2236-479: The twentieth century. Some of his lost buildings were regarded as landmarks of their era. His sons, who had been taken into the firm in 1904, continued after his death as George B. Post and Sons until 1930. Post was born on December 15, 1837, in Manhattan , New York, to Joel Browne Post and Abby Mauran Church. After graduating from New York University in 1858 with a degree in civil engineering , Post became

2288-604: The type that is ours by inheritance; of Oxford and Cambridge , not of Padua or Wittenberg or Paris . They are picturesque also, even dramatic; they are altogether wonderful in mass and in composition. If they are not a constant inspiration to those who dwell within their walls or pass through their "quads" or their vaulted archways, it is not their fault but that of the men themselves. The [Spanish-American War Memorial] tower has been severely criticized as an archaeological abstraction reared to commemorate contemporary American heroism. The criticism seems just to me, though only in

2340-486: Was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival style . Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partnerships in which he worked. Cram was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects . Cram was born on December 16, 1863, at Hampton Falls, New Hampshire , to William Augustine Cram and Sarah Elizabeth (Blake) Cram. He

2392-490: Was as modernist as medieval in inspiration. His administration building, his secular masterwork, has been compared by Shand-Tucci to Frank Lloyd Wright 's work, particularly in the way its dramatic horizontality reflects the surrounding prairies. The architectural historian Sandy Isenstadt wrote in a review of Cram's biography that "... (modernist) disdain (of Cram) turned out to be modernism's loss". Peter Cormack, director of London's William Morris Gallery , said regarding

2444-589: Was devoted to liturgical and devotional practices revived by Anglo-Catholicism, including the cultus of King Charles the Martyr . He, along with other Anglo-Catholics, viewed Anglicanism as a "branch" of the one true Church, alongside the Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy , and hoped for eventual unification with Rome. Cram also co-founded the American branches of the Society of King Charles

2496-530: Was educated at Westford Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy . He was a cousin of Ralph Warren Cram . At age 18, Cram moved to Boston in 1881 and worked for five years in the architectural office of Rotch & Tilden , after which he left for Rome to study classical architecture. From 1885 to 1887, he was art critic for the Boston Transcript . During an 1887 Christmas Eve Mass in Rome, he had

2548-672: Was named to the architectural staff of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois , by Burnham and Root , where he designed the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. In 1894, Post, along with J. Herbert Ballantine, Robert L. Stevens , and Edward T. H. Talmadge each pledged $ 8,000 to purchase land in Bernardsville, New Jersey , to establish the Somerset Hills Country Club, which, after being built on

2600-629: Was razed in 1927 for the construction of the Bergdorf Goodman Building at 754 Fifth Avenue. The mansion was photographed by Albert Levy while being built. Post also designed the palazzo across the street that faced the Vanderbilt Mansion for Collis P. Huntington (1889–94). In Newport, Rhode Island , he built a home for the president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad , C.C. Baldwin, "Chateau-Nooga" or

2652-495: Was recognized as a master of several prominent contemporary American architectural genres, and instrumental in the birth of the skyscraper . Many of his most characteristic projects were for commercial buildings where new requirements pushed the traditional boundaries of design. Many of the buildings he designed have been demolished, since their central locations in New York and other cities made them vulnerable to rebuilding in

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2704-520: Was the first office building to rise as high as ten stories, a forerunner of skyscrapers to come. Post's twenty-story New York World Building (1889–90) was the tallest building in New York City when it was erected in "Newspaper Row" facing City Hall Park . Post married Alice Matilda Stone (1840–1909) on October 14, 1863. Together, they had five children: George Browne, Jr., William Stone, Allison Wright, James Otis and Alice Winifred. Post died on November 28, 1913, in Bernardsville, New Jersey . He

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