PARENT, Pierre Ovide Lucien (1893-1956), known as Lucien Parent, active in Montreal, Que. for the duration of his career, was born there on 29 April 1893 and he graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in 1917. He was active in Montreal in the following offices:
Brais & Parent, 1928-29
Parent & Labelle, Feb. 1930 to December 1930
Pierre O. Lucien Parent, Dec. 1930 to 1936
Tourville & Parent, 1937-40
Pierre O. Lucien Parent, 1940 - after 1950
In an unusual move, Parent left Canada in 1920 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he trained in the office of Henry Hornbostel (1867-1961), a leading American architect who had received the commission to design Emory University in Atlanta. Parent worked there in 1920-24, then returned to Montreal to work in the office of Viau & Venne (in 1924-27), and for Perrault & Gadbois in 1927. In 1928 he formed a partnership with Simeon Brais (see list of works under Brais & Parent). In early 1930, just two months after the stock market crash of October 1929, Parent formed a new partnership with the talented Henri S. Labelle, but the drastic downturn in the economy hastened the end of their business, and their partnership was dissolved in November 1930 (R.A.I.C. Journal, vii, Dec. 1930, 403). Parent continued to work under his own name until 1937 when he formed a new partnership with Rodolphe Tourville. This too was a brief collaboration, and ended in 1940.
Parent had a long-standing interest in the arts community in Montreal. In 1927 he joined the Art Association of Montreal and exhibited many of his architectural projects at their regular Spring Exhibitions from 1927 to 1941 (Evelyn McMann, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Spring Exhibitions, 1988, 294, list of drawings by Parent). He was later nominated as an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy in Ottawa in 1936, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Insitute of Canada in 1941. Parent died in Montreal on 27 March 1956 (obituary and port. La Presse [Montreal], 27 March 1956, 39; obit. Montreal Daily Star, 27 March 1956, 24; Evelyn McMann, Royal Canadian Academy 1880-1979, pub. 1981, 315; inf. Ontario Association of Architects; inf. Royal Canadian Academy, Ottawa). A lengthy English-language biography and list of works by Lucien Parent was published in the Quebec architectural journal Architecture Batiment Construction [Montreal], xi, May 1956, page 29. This essay was written by Henri Mercier, the President of the P.Q.A.A. A photographic portrait of Parent was published in the Daily Commercial News [Toronto], 19 Nov. 1936, 5.
LUCIEN PARENT (works in Outremont)
OUTREMONT, pair of houses for Jean Ducharme, Bernard Avenue at Davaar Avenue, 1926 (Outremont b.p. 2133, 13 Oct. 1926)
OUTREMONT, duplex for J.S. Cardinal, Dollard Boulevard, 1929 (Outremont b.p. 2538, 6 May 1929)
PARENT & LABELLE (works in Montreal unless noted)
OUTREMONT, row of 3 houses for J.C. Julien, Lajoie Avenue, 1929 (Outremont b.p. 2584, 30 July 1929; and b.p. 2626, 7 Nov. 1929)
OUTREMONT, apartment block on Davaar Avenue for Sunny Sites Ltd., 1929 (Outremont b.p. 2590, 27 August 1929; Continute [Quebec City], Autumn 1991, illus.)
OUTREMONT, residence for J.C. Julien, Pratt Avenue, 1929 (Outremont b.p. 2629, 15 Nov. 1929)
ST. CESAIRE, QUE., major addition to the College, with new building adjacent to the College, 1930 (C.R., xliv, 5 Feb. 1930, 54)
ST. LAURENT, QUE., a large Roman Catholic chapel for the Fathers & Brothers of Ste. Croix, 1930 (C.R., xliv, 29 oct. 1930, 52)
ALEXANDRE-DESEVE STREET, near Ste. Catherine Street West, apartment block for J. Edmond Morin, 1930 (City of Montreal, Les Appartements, 1991, 4-6, illus.)
ST. PAUL’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, dismantling of the original church, built 1864 and designed by Lawford & Nelson, and reconstruction of the church on a new site at St. Croix Boulevard at Decelles Street on the campus of St. Laurent College, in Ville Saint Laurent, 1930-31 (City of Montreal, Les Eglises, 1981, 352-59, illus.; Les Couvents, 1984, 41, illus.)
LUCIEN PARENT (works in Montreal unless noted)
STE. GENEVIEVE, QUE., St. Joseph Roman Catholic Novitiate, Gouin Boulevard West at du Pont Street, 1932-33 (C.R., xlv, 17 June 1931, 66, t.c.; xlvi, 6 Jan. 1932, 50; R.A.I.C. Journal, ix, Nov. 1932, 247, awards list, Dec. 1932, 261, illus.; x, Feb. 1933, 29-33, illus.; City of Montreal, Les Couvents, 1984, 260-63, illus.)
MONTREAL, QUE., Externat Classique de St. Croix, a Roman Catholic College for the Brothers of the Holy Cross, Sherbrooke Street East near Valois Street, 1933-34 (C.R., xlvi, 29 June 1932, 60; Gazette [Montreal], 31 Jan. 1933, 4, descrip.; 21 July 1934, 2, descrip.; Const., xxvii, July-Aug. 1934, 113; C.R., xlviii, 1 Aug. 1934, 669)
MONTREAL, QUE., J. Hamilton Refrigeration Ltd., factory and plant, St. Laurent Boulevard near Cremazie Boulevard, 1932-33 (C.R., xlvi, 30 Nov. 1932, 1347)
MONTREAL, QUE., major addition to Rosemount School for Girls, 24th Avenue, 1932 (C.R., xlvi, 6 Jan. 1932, 44)
ST. JOSEPH, N.B., rebuilding of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic College, for the Holy Cross Congregation, 1934 (C.R., xlviii, 31 Jan. 1934, 29, t.c.; 6 June 1934, 35)
MONT ROYAL, QUE., addition of a fire hose tower, and new front facade to the existing fire hall for the Town of Mount Royal, 1934 (Gazette [Montreal], 31 Oct. 1934, 7)
OUTREMONT, residence for Emile Corbeil, Maplewood Avenue, 1936-37 (Outremont b.p. 3088, 28 April 1936; C.R., Vol. 50, 17 March 1937, 38; City of Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 149, illus.)
(with Father Paul Bellot) ST. JOSEPH’S ROMAN CATHOLIC ORATORY, Queen Mary Road, Mount Royal, commencement of the final phase of construction of the exterior of the building, begun in 1937 but construction suspended during WWII, and completed after the war (R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, April 1938, 101; Montreal Daily Star, 26 Oct. 1940, 3, descrip.; C.R., lix, Oct. 1946, 92; City of Montreal, Les Eglises, 1981, 286-95, illus.)
NOVA SCOTIA, design for St. Andrew’s Church, in an unspecified town, c. 1940 (Architecture Batiment Construction, iii, Feb. 1948, 27, illus.)
MONT ROYAL, QUE., school on Laird Boulevard for the Mont Royal School Commission, 1941 (C.R., liv, 28 May 1941, 28)
ST. MARTIN, QUE., rebuilding of the Roman Catholic Church, 1942 (C.R., lv, 8 July 1942, 28)
OUTREMONT, residence for Mrs. Joseph Menard, Maplewood Avenue, 1943 (Outremont b.p. 3776, 14 Sept. 1943)
MONTREAL, QUE., Piazza Tomasso Restaurant, Decarie Boulevard at de la Savane Street, 1945 (Canadian Hotel Review [Toronto], xxiii, 15 Dec. 1945, 12-13, illus.)
MONT LAURIER, QUE., Ferme Neuve Roman Catholic Church, 1947 (Architecture Batiment Construction, ii, Oct. 1947, 28, illus.)
MONTREAL, QUE., a new Parish Hall and Rectory for Eglise St. Jean l’Evangeliste, Wellington Street near Dublin Street, 1947 (C.R., lx, Sept. 1947, 174; Architecture Batiment Construction, ii, Oct. 1947, 50)
RAWDON, QUE., Eglise St. Patrice, 1948 (Architecture Batiment Construction, ii, Oct. 1947, 50)
BEDFORD, QUE., Roman Catholic School and Residence, 1949 (C.R., lxii, Aug. 1949, 222)
MONT ROYAL, QUE., major addition to a Roman Catholic School, 1949-50 (C.R., lxii, Oct. 1949, 144)
LACHINE, QUE., Eglise St. Sacrement Roman Catholic Church and Presbytery, Provost Street, 1950-51 (C.R., lxiii, Aug. 1950, 240)