The 25 – James C. McCrery, II, AIA, NCA

James McCrery is founding principal of McCrery Architects, a Washington, D.C.-based firm committed to the design of churches, civic and university buildings, and unique commissions. An internationally recognized leader in classical architectural design and construction, he balances his architectural profession with teaching at Catholic University of America.

“Classical architecture is a limitless resource for inspiration and a resource to which I feel particularly obligated to contribute,” McCrery contends. “I know that my work as a professor is already helping form the next generation of classical architects. A great number of them work at my firm and at many other leading practitioners of classical architecture throughout the U.S.,” he says, adding, “It is a joy to see them thrive.”

McCrery is the design architect of the recently completed Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville, Tennessee; the Saint Mary Help of Christians Church in Aiken, South Carolina; and the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel at the St. John Neumann Center, University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He designed the pedestal for the statue of President and Governor Ronald Wilson Reagan in the United States Capitol Rotunda, the pedestal for the recently completed statue of The Reverend Billy Graham in the Capitol Rotunda’s Crypt, and the Book and Gift Store in the United States Supreme Court Building.

His current work includes a new master plan and Revolutionary War Memorial for the North Carolina State Capitol Grounds, a new mountaintop Benedictine Monastery in rural Tasmania, and several commissions for new buildings at Hillsdale College.

McCrery is a tenured member of the faculty of the School of Architecture and the Allied Arts at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he is the founding Director of the Concentration in Classical Architecture and Urban Design. He is a founding member of the National Civic Art Society, a National Design Peer of the U.S. General Services Administration, and an appointed member of the United States Commission of Fine Arts.