Patrick Keely - Early Life in Brooklyn, New York

Early Life in Brooklyn, New York

He emigrated through Castle Gardens to Brooklyn, New York, in 1842. He arrived at a time when Catholicism in the United States was expanding from its initial footholds in Baltimore, Maryland, New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts. Initially, he worked as a carpenter and builder since there were few trained architects practicing and most structures were erected with the design assistance of the client and builder alone. Common practice held that the builder, whether trained as mason or carpenter, crafted his own plans, and details were often executed without even the aid of drawings. For a number of years Keely worked at his trade without attracting attention. During this time, he met the Rev. Sylvester Malone, a Roman Catholic priest his own age. Father Malone was sent to form a parish near the waterfront at Williamsburgh in Kings County, New York, in 1846. Together with Keely, he worked out a plan for a Gothic church possessing pointed arches, pinnacles, and a few buttresses. Working as a carpenter, Keely produced designs the new Roman Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul (Brooklyn, New York) in the Williamsburgh section of Brooklyn in 1847.