DESHAIES, Joseph David (1904-1991), active in Nicolet, Que. for most of his career. Born at St. Sylvere, Que. on 8 May 1904, he was educated at the Commercial High School in Victoriaville, and at the Seminary at Nicolet. He moved to Quebec City to study architecture at the local Ecole des Beaux Arts, but no information has been found on where or with whom he trained and served an apprenticeship. Deshaies opened his own office in Nicolet in 1935. Much of his work was devoted to preparing designs for ecclesiastical and educational buildings in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Drummondville, but some of his commissions can be found as far away as Ottawa, Ont. and in Rouyn, Que. He was follower of the work Father Dom Bellot, and his interpretation of the modern Gothic can best be seen in his design for the Agricultural School in Nicolet (1937-38). During WWII he was a staff architect for Canadian Celanese Co. and designed their industrial facility at Drummondville. In 1948 he formed a partnership with Victor Decopas, and they collaborated for several years. After 1960 he relocated his office to Arthabaska, Que. Deshaies died at Nicolet, Que. on 19 November 1991 (biog. and list of works in Qui Etes-Vous, 1946; biog. and list of works in the National Reference Book, ix, 1951, 165; biog. and port. Biographies Canadiennes Francaises, xvi, 1952, 366-7). The Centre d'Archives Regionales Seminaire de Nicolet holds a large collection of over 14,000 drawings and photographs documenting nearly 300 projects by Deshaies, and by Deshaies & Depocas, in the period from 1935 to c. 1980.
(works in Nicolet, P.Q. unless noted)
J.D. DESHAIES
NICOLET, QUE., major addition to the Roman Catholic College, 1936-37 (C.R., Vol. 50, 26 Feb. 1936, 30; 10 Feb. 1937, 36)
NICOLET, QUE., Agricultural School, for the Quebec Dept. of Agriculture, 1937-38 (C.R., Vol. 50, 19 May 1937, 35; 25 Aug. 1937, 39; li, 12 Jan. 1938, 28; 1 June 1938, 31)
NICOLET, QUE., major five storey addition to the Roman Catholic Mother House for the Rev. Sisters of Charity, 1939 (C.R., lii, 10 May 1939, 41, t.c.; 27 Sept. 1939, 29)
DRUMMONDVILLE, QUE., St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, 1941 (C.R., liv, 9 April 1941, 29; 14 May 1941, 30)
ST. JOSEPH DE GRANTHAM., QUE., Roman Catholic church, 1941 (C.R., liv, 14 May 1941, 30)
ROUYN, QUE., a Retreat House for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Timmins, 1947 (C.R., lx, Aug. 1947, 260)
VILLE ST. JOSEPH, QUE., municipal School, 1947-48 (C.R., lx, Oct. 1947, 186)
DESHAIES & DEPOCAS
ST. JOSEPH DE GRANTHAM, QUE., Roman Catholic school and residence, 1948 (C.R., lxi, March 1948, 172)
ST. JEROME, QUE., Roman Catholic Hospital, for the Sisters of St. Joseph d’Arthabaska, 1948 (C.R., lxi, May 1948, 176; Architecture Batiment Construction, vi, April 1951, 15-19, 25, 27, 28, 31 and 33, illus. & descrip.)
DRUMMONDVILLE, QUE., Roman Catholic school and residence, 1948 (C.R., lxi, Aug. 1948, 232)
AMOS, QUE., Roman Catholic Hospital, 1949 (Architecture Batiment Construction, iv, Oct. 1949, 30, illus.)
OTTAWA, ONT., major addition to the Roman Catholic Seminary for the Oblate Fathers, Main Street at Clegg Street, 1949 (C.R., lxii, June 1949, 116)
TERREBONNE, QUE., Roman Catholic College and residence, 1950; completed by Victor Depocas in 1952 (C.R., lxiii, Jan. 1950, 148)
DRUMMONDVILLE, QUE., St. Simon Roman Catholic Church, Edgar Street, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, May 1950, 142)