MEADOWCROFT, James Curzey (1892-1969) of Montreal, Que. was born there on 29 October 1892 and educated at high schools in the city, but appears to have received no formal education in architecture. Instead, he began to work as a draftsman at the age of seventeen, assisting in the office of Saxe & Archibald. After the outbreak of WWI he joined the Canadian Army in 1916 and served overseas in western Europe. Upon returning to Montreal in 1918 he joined Ross & MacDonald and became a senior partner with them before resigning in 1930 to commence practise under his own name. In 1919 Meadowcroft sued the Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects for refusing to allow him to register as a fully qualified architect (Montreal Daily Star, 28 October 1919, 3). It is unclear why his membership was blocked.
Much of his career was devoted to the design of industrial plants for the Aluminum Company of Canada in B.C., Ontario and Quebec, and for Canadian Marconi Ltd. His most notable achievement was the modernist design of the Shipshaw Power House and Headblock near Jonquiere, Que., for which he was awarded a silver Massey Medal in 1950. He served as President of the Province of Quebec Association of Architects in 1949, and retired from the profession in 1967. Meadowcroft died in Montreal on 22 September 1969 (obit. and port. Gazette [Montreal], 25 Sept. 1969, 53; inf. Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects; Architectural Inst. of British Columbia)
CORNWALL, ONT., ice hockey arena, Water Street East, 1933 (C.R., xlvii, 8 March 1933, 37)
ARVIDA, QUE., industrial plant for Aluminum Company of Canada Ltd., 1935 (C.R., xlix, 31 July 1935, 31)
NORANDA, QUE., concrete powerhouse, with eleven detached residences, 1936 (C.R., vol. 50, 25 March 1936, 37)
(with Lamontagne & Gravel) ISLE MALIGNE, QUE., City Hall, Bridge Avenue North near Powell Avenue, 1936-37, and now renamed La Maison des Batisseurs (inf. Societe d'Histoire de Lac Saint-Jean, Alma; inf. Scott Edwards)
TOWN OF MOUNT ROYAL, QUE., major addition to office building for Canadian Marconi Co., Trenton Avenue at Canova Road, 1937-38; major addition to factory, 1940, with another addition, 1940-41 (C.R., vol. 50, 19 May 1937, 35; liii, 20 Nov. 1940, 21; Gazette [Montreal], 30 Jan. 1940, 21; 11 Nov. 1940, 20; R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Aug. 1942, 166, illus.; Montreal, Architecture Industrielle, 1982, 260-1, illus.; inf. Scott Edwards)
BRONX PARK DISTRICT, elementary school, 1939 (Montreal Daily Star, 3 Feb. 1939, 33)
OUTREMONT, residence for C.E. Campiche, Maplewood Avenue, 1938 (Outremont b.p. 3364, 14 Oct. 1938)
WESTMOUNT, new club house for the St. George Club & Curling Rink, Aberdeen Avenue at The Boulevard, built to replace the old club house destroyed by fire in early 1939 (Gazette [Montreal], 11 March 1939, 10, illus.; 11 Oct. 1939, 11; inf. Scott Edwards)
(with Mathers & Haldenby) KINGSTON, ONT., office and factory for Aluminum Company of Canada, Princess Street at Bath Road, 1940-41 (C.R., liii, 10 Jan. 1940, 29; liv, 9 April 1941, 31; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, Feb. 1946, 33-5, illus.; J. McKendry, Modern Architecture in Kingston, 2014, 38, illus. & descrip.)
JONQUIERE, QUE., Shipshaw No. 2 Power House Development, on the Saguenay River, for the Aluminum Co. of Canada, 1941-43 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiv, Dec. 1947, 430-5, illus. & descrip.)
TORONTO, ONT., factory for Murphy Paint Co., Lake Shore Road near Brown's Line, in Long Branch, 1946-47 (C.R., lix, Jan. 1946, 96; Financial Post [Toronto], 25 Jan. 1947, 9; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Nov. 1948, 424-5, illus.)
MONTREAL, QUE., Bell Telephone Co., garage and offices, 1947, 1949 (C.R., lx, July 1947, 103; lxii, Nov. 1949, 126)
VILLE LASALLE, QUE., factory for Bonner Leather Co., St.Lawrence Boulevard at Louvain Street, 1947 (C.R., lx, Sept. 1947, 175, t.c.)
MONTREAL EAST, QUE., technical building for Imperial Oil Ltd., Notre Dame Street East near Gamble Street, 1948 (C.R., lxi, July 1948, 136)
MONTREAL, QUE., varnish plant and warehouse for International Paints Ltd., Park Avenue near Beaumont Avenue, 1949 (C.R., lxii, Aug. 1949, 226)
LACHINE, QUE., reconstruction of the clubhouse for Summerlea Golf & Country Club, Dixie Street at 48th Avenue, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Feb. 1950, 134)
OTTAWA, ONT., Building Research Centre for the National Research Council, Montreal Road, 1953 (Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 138-9, illus. & descrip.)