BIGONESSE, Joseph Aurele (1889-1964), the younger brother of Louis Jospeh Bigonesse, and active in Montreal, Que. in the partnership of Bigonesse & Bigonesse from 1915 to 1929. Born in St. Jovite, Quebec on 16 April 1889, he studied at the college in Granby, then enrolled in courses in civil engineering at the Polytechnical Institute in Montreal where both he and his brother were members of the same graduating class in 1915. He was invited to form a new partnership in Montreal, as Bigonesse & Bigonesse, Architects, but later took an extended study trip to the United States in 1919-21 to examine contemporary landmarks of architecture and engineering. Although the partnership remained active until 1929, J.A. Bigonesse had already decided to move to Quebec City in 1927 or before this date.
An examination of building permit records in Quebec City confirms that J.A. Bigonesse was already working there under his own name, either alone or in collaboration with Robert Blatter, an innovative modernist architect responsible for introducing the Internationale Style of contemporary architecture to provincial Quebec from 1930 onward. Joseph A. Bigonesse remained active there for the duration of his career, and died in Quebec City on 12 November 1964 (death notice L'Action Catholique [Quebec City], 13 Nov. 1964, 13, with obituary and port. 14 Nov. 1964, 21; biog. and port in Biographies Canadiennes Francaises, 1923, 245; inf. Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects, Application Form from J. Aurele Bigonesse dated 22 May 1939)
J.A. BIGONESSE (works in Quebec City unless noted)
LEGARE AUTO SUPPLY CO., St. Vallier Street at St. Paul Street, warehouse and garage, 1927-28 (Quebec City b.p. 1662, 2 Nov. 1927)
PARK AVENUE APARTMENTS, Park Avenue, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 7 March 1928, 60)
MURRAY AVENUE, duplex for Ernest Lavigne, 1928 (Quebec City b.p. 2303, 6 July 1928)
MURRAY AVENUE, duplex for Ernest Lapointe, 1929 (Quebec City b.p. 2904, 23 April 1929)
MURRAY AVENUE, duplex for Joseph Morel, 1929 (Quebec City b.p. 2927, 29 April 1929)
BOUGAINVILLE AVENUE, residence for Lucien Pettigrew, 1929 (Quebec City b.p. 2997, 10 May 1929)
(with Robert Blatter) CLAIRE-FONTAINE STREET, residence for Henri Belanger, 1929; demol. (Quebec City b.p. 3381, 30 July 1929)
A.E. MAROIS CO., Arago Street, garage, 1929 (Quebec City b.p. 3036, 16 May 1929)
STE. ANNE DE BEAUPRE, QUE., hospital for the Dominican Sisters, 1929 (C.R., xliii, 25 Sept. 1929, 147)
STE. FOY ROAD, at Begin Street, residence for Roch Julien, 1930 (Quebec City b.p. 4059, 30 April 1930)
BOUGAINVILLE AVENUE, residence for Marcellin Pettigrew, 1930 (Quebec City b.p. 4154, 15 May 1930)
CASOT AVENUE, at Marquette Street, apartment block for Emile Fontaine, 1930 (Quebec City b.p. 4639, 30 Sept. 1930)
(with Robert Blatter) QUEBEC PILOT BUILDING, Champlain Market Place, 1931 (C.R., xlv, 14 Jan. 1931, 52-3, t.c.)
(with Robert Blatter) ST. VALLIER, QUE., rebuilding of the Roman Catholic Church, 1931-32 (C.R., xlv, 12 Aug. 1931, 58)
ST. GREGOIRE-DE-MONTMORENCY, QUE., rebuilding of the convent and residence for the Sisters of St. Joseph, 1934 (C.R., xlviii, 9 May 1934, 31)
ECOLE TECHNIQUE, Langelier Boulevard, major addition, 1946-47 (C.R., lix, Dec. 1946, 74)
CHANDLER, QUE., Roman Catholic hospital, 1947 (Architecture Batiment Construction, ii, Sept. 1947, 96)
(with Napolean Beauchamp) CARTIERVILLE, QUE., Prevost Tuberculosis Sanatorium, 1949-50 (Architecture Batiment Construction, iv, Nov. 1949, 26, illus.)