Giroux, Raphel | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

GIROUX, Raphael (1815-69), a talented architect, model maker and sculptor, born in Charlesburg, Que.. He was the son of Michel Giroux, a joiner and timber framer. Giroux became an assistant to Thomas Baillairge, and may have trained under him. After the death of the latter in 1859, Giroux was named in the last will of Baillairge as recipient of his architectural models, sketch books, manuals, and his joinery, sculpture and painting tools, which Giroux likely used to complete several commissions between 1859 and his death in 1869. An acknowledged expert in the fabrication of architectural models, his work was included in a recent exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal (CCA, The Use of Models: Nineteenth-Century Church Architecture in Quebec, 1994, 14-15). A photographic portrait of Giroux in his studio, with an architectural model fabricated by him, appears in A.J.H. Richardson, Quebec City: Architects, Artisans and Builders, 1984, 305. Giroux suffered a business failure and bankruptcy in 1868; this may have hastened his death in St. Casimir, Que. in 1869 (biog. and list of works in A.J.H.Richardson, Quebec City: Architects, Artisans and Builders, 1984, 291-2, 305-06, illus.; Gerard Morisset, L'Architecture en Nouvelle-France, 1949, 132). One of his sons was Alfred Giroux, who likely trained under his father.

(with Louis T. Berlinguet) QUEBEC CITY,QUE., St. Roch Roman Catholic Church, St. Joseph Street, interior decoration of the church, 1848-51; demol. 1914 (L. Noppen et al, Quebec - trois siecles d'architecture, 1979, 187, illus.)
LEVIS, QUE., Notre Dame des Victoires Roman Catholic Church, interior decoration of the church, 1854 (L. Noppen et al, Quebec - trois siecles d'architecture, 1979, 179, illus.)
QUEBEC CITY,QUE., Ursulines Roman Catholic Convent, addition of the St. Joseph wing, 1858; addition of the St. Augustin wing, 1860, de Parloir Street (L. Noppen et al, Quebec - trois siecles d'architecture, 1979, 245-6, illus.)
PERCE, QUE., Roman Catholic Church, 1859 (A.J.H. Richardson, list of works)
CAP SANTE, QUE., Roman Catholic church, 1859-63 (A.J.H. Richardson, list of works)
ST. LAURENT, ISLE D'ORLEANS, QUE., Roman Catholic church, 1861-66 (A.J.H. Richardson, list of works)
DESCHAILLONS, QUE., St. Jean Roman Catholic church, designed 1869; completed after the death of Giroux in 1870-73 (Robert Caron, Un Couvent du XIX Siecle, 1980, 121, illus.)