Patrick W. Ford

Who was Patrick W. Ford?

Patrick W. Ford was an Irish-American architect who, along with Patrick C. Keely of Brooklyn and James Murphy of Providence, Rhode Island designed many Roman Catholic churches built in the eastern part of United States through the latter half of the 19th century.

He was born in Ballincollig, Ireland, and educated at Queen's College Cork, Ford emigrated to the United States in the late 1860s. He lived for a time in New York City where he may have worked in the office of Patrick C. Keeley and then went to work for architect Elbridge Boyden in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Ford opened his own practice in Boston in 1872. He was widely recognized as an authority on church architecture and his practice focused primarily on designing churches and institutional buildings for the Roman Catholic Church in New England. Ford died suddenly at age 52 in August 1900.