LACROIX, Wilfred (1891-1970) was born in Quebec City on 6 March 1891 and attended Levis College and Laval University, then moved to Montreal where he studied the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and graduated in 1914. He left Canada and moved to Paris to attend post-graduate courses in architecture for three years. Upon his return to Quebec in 1917 he formed a partnership with Alfred G. Nosworthy, a graduate of the Massachusetts Inst. of Technology in Boston who had later worked as an assistant architect with the Grand Trunk Railway System in Montreal. Their collaboration was brief, and by 1919 Lacroix had opened an office under his own name. In 1926 he formed a new partnership with Jean C. Drouin, and they devoted much of their practise to ecclesiastical and institutional commissions for various dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec and New Brunswick. Their most important commission was the classically inspired Beaux-Arts design for the Museum of Quebec, overlooking the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City (1927-28).
Lacroix was appointed President of the Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects in 1930, and that same year he elected as an alderman in Quebec City. In 1935 he ran in the federal election and won a seat in the House of Commons, representing the riding of Quebec-Montmorency, and held the seat through five successive elections until 1960. The demands of that political office in Ottawa likely led to the dissolution of the partnership of Lacroix & Drouin in April 1936, and Lacroix continued to operate an office in Quebec City where his name is linked to the design of “Edifice E”, a substantial government office block intended to serve as an Annex to the Provincial Parliament Buildings. No references can be found to his architectural activity after 1950, and Lacroix died in Quebec City on 30 August 1970 (obituary Le Soleil [Quebec City], 31 Aug. 1970, 2; death notice l’Action Catholique [Quebec City], 1 Sept. 1970, 13; biog. and port Who’s Who in Canada, 1925-26, 175-6; National Reference Book, v, 1936, 442-43; Les Biographies Francaises d’Amerique, 1942, 531; biog., port and list of works in Who’s Who in Canada, 1947-48, 663-64; biog. L. Noppen, H. Jobidon & P. Trepanier, Quebec Monumental 1890-1990, 182, illus. & descrip.)
LACROIX & NOSWORTHY (works in Quebec City unless noted)
GRANDE ALLEE, near Bourlamaque Avenue, residence for J. Alphonse Cote, 1917 (Quebec City b.p. 3414, 17 May 1917; D. Blanchet, Decouvrir la Grande Allee, 1984, 68-9, 151, illus.)
CARTIER AVENUE, triplex house for C. Lacroix, 1917 (Quebec City b.p. 3606, 9 July 1917)
WILFRID LACROIX (works in Quebec City unless noted)
OTTAWA, ONT., a branch for the National Bank of Canada, 1919-20 (C.R., xxxiii, 15 Oct. 1919, 49)
(with Frederick G. Todd and J.L.D. Lafreniere) QUEBEC PROVINCE HOUSING COMMISSION, a large tract of housing units, to be constructed at various locations in the province, 1919-20 (C.R., xxxiii, 13 Aug. 1919, 48; and 12 Nov. 1919, 51)
CARTIER AVENUE, residence for Charles O. Lacroix, 1919-20 (Quebec City b.p. 5107, 24 Dec. 1919)
ST. HILARION, QUE., Roman Catholic church, 1924 (C.R., xxxviii, 9 Jan. 1924, 53)
(with Beaule & Morrissette) QUEBEC LIQUOR COMMISSION, warehouse, offices and stores, Dalhousie Street at St. Andre Street, 1924 (C.R., xxxviii, 14 May 1924, 57, t.c.)
THETFORD MINES, QUE., Town Hall, 1924-25 (Parks Canada, Town Halls of Canada, 1987, 275, illus.)
TURNBULL AVENUE, pair of duplex houses for Robert Taschereau, 1926 (Quebec City b.p. 419, 23 June 1926)
HOLLAND AVENUE, duplex house for J. Alfred Nadeau, 1926 (Quebec City b.p. 468, 9 July 1926)
LACROIX & DROUIN (works in Quebec City unless noted)
LAURIER AVENUE, row of nine houses for Amedee Demers, 1926-27 (Quebec City b.p. 2195, 10 Dec. 1926)
MUSEE DU QUEBEC & PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES, Wolfe-Montcalm Avenue, facing Battlefields Park, 1927-28 (Ottawa Journal, 29 April 1927, 10, descrip.; C.R., xli, 5 Jan. 1927, 48; and 6 July 1927, 55, t.c.; and xliii, 17 April 1929, 67, t.c.; L. Noppen et al, Quebec - Trois siecles d’architecture, 1979, 285, illus.; Quebec City b.p. 1733, 12 Jan. 1928; L. Noppen, H. Jobidon & P. Trepanier, Quebec Monumental 1890-1990, 50, illus. & descrip.)
VICTORIA HOTEL, St. John Street, major addition for N. Bedard and J. Burne, 1927 (C.R., xli, 26 Jan. 1927, 49; Quebec City b.p. 865, 3 March 1927)
SISTERS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Ste. Foye Road, major addition of two new wings for the Roman Catholic Convent, 1927 (C.R., xli, 11 May 1927, 54; and 7 Sept. 1927, 50)
GOVERNOR’S GENERAL’S RESIDENCE, major addition of a new annex, 1927 (C.R., xli, 13 July 1927, 54, and Toronto Daily Star, 14 July 1928, 7, detailed architectural descrip.)
THEATRE CARTIER, Cartier Avenue at St. Cyrille Street, for A. Moisan, 1927; altered 1987 (C.R., xli, 31 Aug. 1927, 51: Quebec City b.p. 1492, 6 Sept. 1927; Continuite [Quebec City], No. 41, Autumn 1988, 32, illus.)
ST. ANNE DE BEAUPRE, QUE., Roman Catholic school, 1927 (C.R., xli, 7 Sept. 1927, 50)
ST. THOMAS DE MONTMAGNY, QUE., college for the Roman Catholic School Board, 1927 (C.R., xli, 14 Sept. 1927, 54)
LE SOLEIL NEWSPAPER CO., St. Vallier Street at Crown Street, head office building, 1927 (Quebec City b.p. 932, 4 April 1927; C.R., xli, 13 April 1927, 53)
(with Thomas W. Lamb) FAMOUS PLAYERS THEATRE, St. Jean Street at Angels Street, 1928-29 (Quebec City b.p. 2648, 26 Oct. 1928; C.R., xliii, 20 March 1929, 68)
ECOLE NORMAL LAVAL (now COLLEGE MERICI), St. Louis Road at Merici Street, for the Ursuline Sisters, 1929 (C.R., xliii, 15 May 1929, 68; Quebec City b.p. 3575, 23 Sept. 1929; L. Noppen, H. Jobidon & P. Trepanier, Quebec Monumental 1890-1990, 163, illus. & descrip.)
QUEBEC POWER CO., streetcar sheds, Montmagny Street, 1929 (Quebec City b.p. 3575, 23 Sept. 1929)
QUEBEC POWER CO., streetcar garage, Prince Edward Street, 1930 (C.R., xliv, 28 May 1930, 211)
CREMAZIE STREET, duplex house for Mme. Adelard Sylvain, 1930 (Quebec City b.p. 3940, 29 March 1930)
NATIONAL BANK OF CANADA, des Erables Avenue at St. Cyrille Street, 1930 (Quebec City b.p. 4586, 16 Sept. 1930)
QUEBEC LIQUOR COMMISSION, Dalhousie Street at St. Andre Street, major addition to warehouse, 1930-31 (C.R., xliv, 26 Nov. 1930, 55; Quebec City b.p. 4809, 31 Dec. 1930)
SILLERY, QUE., Roman Catholic Seminary, St. Louis Road, 1931 (C.R., xlv, 6 May 1931, 69)
ACADEMIE COMMERCIALE, Chaveau Avenue at Cook Street, for the Roman Catholic Christian Brothers, 1932-33 (C.R., xlvi, 27 April 1932, 57, t.c.; and xlvii, 3 May 1933, 32; L. Noppen et al, Quebec - Trois Siecles d’architecture, 1979, 87, 345, illus.)
RIVIERE DU LOUP, QUE., orphanage for the Soeurs du Bon Conseil, 1932 (C.R., xlvi, 17 Aug. 1932, 44; and 21 Sept. 1932, 98)
ST. BAZIL, N.B., major addition to St. Joseph Roman Catholic Hospital, 1933-35 (C.R., xlvii, 1 Nov. 1933, 34; and xlix, 13 March 1935, 29)
(with Adrien Dufresne and Sylvio Brassard) COLLEGE ST. CHARLES GARNIER, for the Jesuit Fathers, St. Cyrille Boulevard West, 1934-35 (C.R., xlvii, 20 Dec. 1933, 28, t.c.; and xlviii, 16 May 1934, 82; L. Noppen, H. Jobidon & P. Trepanier, Quebec Monumental 1890-1990, 55, illus. & descrip.)
WILFRID LACROIX (works in Quebec City unless noted)
ST. RAYMOND, QUE., rebuilding of a Roman Catholic college, 1934 (C.R., xlviii, 28 Feb. 1934, 29, t.c.; Gazette [Montreal], 24 Sept. 1934, 6, descrip.)
ST. GEORGES, QUE., Roman Catholic Hospital for the Elderly, 1934-35 (C.R., xlviii, 3 Oct. 1934, 29)
(with J.S. Bergeron) EDIFICE E, an annex to the Provincial Parliament Buildings, now called the Andre-Laurendeau Building, St. Augustin Street at St. Amable Street, an office block for the Province of Quebec, 1934-35 (Gazette [Montreal], 12 Sept. 1934, 6; R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, Sept. 1938, 20, illus. in advert; xviii, April 1941, 59, illus.; L. Noppen, H. Jobidon & P. Trepanier, Quebec Monumental 1890-1990, 74, illus. & descrip.)
GASPE, QUE., Provincial Court House and Jail, 1944 (C.R., xvii, 12 July 1944, 27, t.c.)