FORT GREENE — Famed 19th-century Irish-American church architect Patrick Keely built 19 major cathedrals in Canada and the U.S., including Newark, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Natchez, Mississippi, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Unfortunately, none of those elaborate Gothic-style landmarks are in Keely’s adopted city of Brooklyn, although he died in 1896 believing one of his designs would be built there.
In 1865, Keely began designing the proposed Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for the new Diocese of Brooklyn, which was established in 1853. Its towering twin spires would rival those of the new St. Patrick’s Cathedral in neighboring Manhattan.
The proposed cathedral, originally intended to replace the Cathedral of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn, is sometimes called “the Cathedral that Never Was.”
“That’s a bit of a misnomer,” said Joseph Coen, archivist for the diocese. “I’ve used that term myself, but technically, it was partially built.”
An estimated 25,000 people turned out on June 21, 1868, for the dedication at the proposed site on Clermont Avenue in Fort Greene. Dignitaries included Bishop John Loughlin of Brooklyn and Archbishop John McCloskey of New York.
Bishop Loughlin died in 1891, and his successor, Bishop Charles McDonnell, vowed to keep the cathedral plans moving. A venue for daily Mass, St. John’s Chapel, was completed along with the bishop’s residence as part of the cathedral project.
Meanwhile, Bishop McDonnell retained the Cathedral of St. James as the temporary “pro-cathedral” for the diocese.
Keely, who resided near the new cathedral’s site, attended Mass daily at its chapel — which was built at the start of the project — until he died in 1896.
Thus, Keely and Bishops Loughlin and McDonnell went to their graves, believing the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception would be finished one day.
Coen said Keely’s magnificent cathedral design ultimately failed during the Great Depression when Bishop Thomas Edmund Molloy, the diocese’s third prelate, decided to cancel the project.
“Molloy had been an auxiliary bishop under McDonnell,” Coen said. “But by the 1930s, he was in critical need of high schools. The population had been increasing since Bishop Loughlin’s time, and there became a crying need for high schools.”
Bishop Molloy subsequently sacrificed the building of the cathedral for new schools, including two named for his predecessors — Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School on Clermont and the now-closed Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School on Eastern Parkway.
Bishop Molloy lived at the bishop’s residence on Clermont Ave. but later turned it over to the De La Salle Christian Brothers, who taught at the school. The residence now houses students at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School.
The Cathedral of St. James became the permanent cathedral of the diocese in 1972 and was named a basilica 10 years later. In 2013, the larger St. Joseph’s Church in Prospect Heights became the co-cathedral to handle celebrations with larger congregations.
Now, the massive blueprint for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception remains in the archives under Coen’s protection — the only vestige that it was ever considered.