DESMEULES, Gabriel (1902-1968), active in Quebec City, P.Q. where he worked under his own name, or in partnership with Ludger Robitaille (see list of works under Robitaille & Desmeules). Born in La Malbaie, Que. on 16 February 1902, he studied at the Quebec Seminary and at the Technical School where he graduated in 1921. He worked for two years as a draftsman for Eastern Canada Steel Co., and for the Bell Telephone Co., In 1924 he returned to school to study architecture at the local Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Quebec City, and after graduating in 1927 he joined the Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects and opened his own office there. He was invited by Ludger Robitaille to form a new partnership with him in late 1927. Their best-known work was the ‘Palais Montcalm’, a municipal auditorium, library, swimming pool and concert hall (1931-32). After the dissolution of their partnership in late 1935, Desmeules continued to work under his own name, and he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada in 1960. He retired from the profession in 1967, and died in Quebec City during the following year of 1968 (biog. and port. National Reference Book, v, 1936, 229-30; biog. L. Noppen et al, Quebec Monumental 1890-1990, 90, illus., 180)
G. DESMUELES
(works in Quebec City unless noted)
ST. JOSEPH PARISH, a Roman Catholic school, Marie de l’Incarnation Street at Kirouac Street, 1939-40 (C.R., lii, 13 Dec. 1939, 27)
(with Henry E. Greenspoon) CATHOLIC SYNDICATES OF QUEBEC, Charest Boulevard, office block, 1948-50 (C.R., lxi, June 1948, 164; France Vanlaethem, Patrimoine en Devenir: l‘Architecture Moderne du Quebec, 2012, 123, illus.)
C. JOBIN LTD., at the Centre Industriel No. 5, office block, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, May 1950, 148)
PONT ROUGE, QUE., Roman Catholic school, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Aug. 1950, 240; Oct. 1950, 154)
MALBAIE, QUE., Roman Catholic church, 1950-51 (C.R., lxiii, Dec. 1950, 106)