LEFORT, Jean Serge (1905-1982), son of Paul A. LeFort, an architect with the federal Dept. of Public Works in Ottawa. Jean S. was born in Ottawa on 14 July 1905 and was educated at the University of Ottaawa (in 1915-22), and at the Technical School in Hull, Que. (1925-27). His early training as an architect was obtained in the office of Noffke, Morin & Sylvester (1922-24), and with Brodeur & Pilon (1924). In late 1925, at the age of twenty years, he submitted an entry under his own name in the international competition for the National War Memorial in Ottawa (Ottawa Journal, 1 Feb. 1926, 3). His proposal was among over one hundred designs sent in, but he was not one of the seven finalists.
Lefort moved to Boston to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for one year, then moved to Montreal where he attended the local Ecole des Beaux Arts from 1930 to 1934, and spent his summers working in various offices including Ludger Lemieux (1929-30), A. Beaugrand-Champagne (1931), and for Lucien Leblanc (1932-33). He opened his own office in Montreal in June 1934 but within two years he had relocated to his home town of Ottawa where he continued to work for the duration of his career. LeFort retired in January 1971 and died in Ottawa in 1982 (biog. and port Biographies Canadiennes Francaises, xix, 1963, 434-5; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects)
(works in Ottawa)
EMPIRE AMUSEMENT CO., a movie theatre, Somerset Street between Percy Street and Bronson Street, 1936-37 (Ottawa Journal, 24 Nov. 1936, 1)
GOOD SHEPHERD ROMAN CATHOLIC CONVENT, St. Andrew Street at St. Joseph Street, a major five-storey addition, and extensive renovations to the existing building, 1939 (Ottawa Journal, 3 June 1939, 4, descrip.; 29 Aug. 1939, 1, descrip.; C.R., lii, 14 June 1939, 41)
ST. VINCENT'S ROMAN CATHOLIC HOSPITAL FOR INCURABLES, Cambridge Street at Laurier Avenue West, major addition, 1946 (C.R., lix, June 1946, 140)
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA EXTENSION DEPT., Stewart Street at Waller Street, with Student Bookstore, Univ. of Ottawa Press, and Catholic offices, 1947 (Ottawa Journal, 26 June 1947, 16, descrip.)
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, Laurier Avenue East at Cumberland Street, Medical Building, 1948; Arts Building, 1949; addition to the University Seminary, 1950 (C.R., lxi, May 1948, 175; lxii, Feb. 1949, 148; lxiii, April 1950, 124)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, Bank Street, 1956-57 (Ottawa Journal, 18 Aug. 1956, 1)
MARIE-MEDIATRICE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, Cyr Avenue, 1956-57 (Ottawa Journal, 18 Aug. 1956, 1)
(works elsewhere)
GATINEAU MILLS, QUE., Roman Catholic school, 1935 (Ottawa Journal, 1 April 1935, 1, descrip.)
GATINEAU, QUE., St. Jean Vianney Roman Catholic College, on the Hull-Montreal Highway, 1936; and construction of an additional storey to the College, with addition of two storeys to the adjacent Christian Brothers Residence, 1947 (Ottawa Journal, 17 Feb. 1936, 12, descrip.; 6 Jan. 1947, 19, t.c.)
STE. ROSE DE LIMA, QUE., a Roman Catholic convent for the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur, 1936 (Ottawa Journal, 10 Sept. 1936, 21)
HULL, QUE., Provincial Prison, King's Park, Val Tetreau, north of the Aylmer Road, between the new Hull Sanatorium and St. Theresa's Orphanage, 1938 (C.R., li, 6 July 1938, 31, t.c.; Ottawa Journal, 16 July 1938, 3 & 14, descrip.; 5 Oct. 1938, 13, descrip.; 11 Jan. 1939, 12, descrip.; 12 Jan. 1939, 12, illus. of sculptures on facade)
MASSON, QUE., Roman Catholic School, and a residence adjacent for teachers, 1939 (Ottawa Journal, 16 June 1939, 15; descrip.)
HULL, QUE., Wilfrid Coulombe Ltd., Bridge Street at Vaudreuil Street, retail store and apartments, 1940 (Ottawa Journal, 15 May 1940, 12, descrip.)
HULL, QUE., major addition to the Hull Technical School, Leduc Street at Hotel de Ville Street, 1940-41 (Ottawa Journal, 14 Dec. 1940, 32, descrip.)
VAL D'OR, QUE., Dominion Public Building & Post Office, 1948-49 (C.R., lxi, Nov. 1948, 138)
OVERBROOK, ONT., retreat house for the Roman Catholic Franciscain Sisters, 1949 (C.R., lxii, Aug. 1949, 224)
EASTVIEW, ONT., Roman Catholic Hospital for the Sisters of Wisdom, 1949-50 (C.R., lxii, Dec. 1949, 87, 89)