LARUE, Joseph Albert (1891-1985) held the unique position of official architect to the Roman Catholic Order of the Dominican Fathers in the province of Quebec, and was responsible for the design of monasteries and convents for the Order which were built in Quebec City, Montreal and elsewhere in both Canada and the United States. Born in Quebec City on 14 July 1891, he was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique at the University of Montreal where he studied architecture, design and construction. He also took summer courses in architecture at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. His early architectural training included work in the office of Charles Bernier (in 1914-15), and with Aristide Beaugrand-Champagne (in 1916-17). Then fully qualified, he was accepted as a member of the Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects in July 1917, and, that same year, as a member of the Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada. He later joined the Ontario Assoc. of Architects in 1921 in order to carry out work in Ottawa and eastern Ontario. Larue also had a continuing interest in architectural education, and held the appointment of Assistant Professor of Architecture at his alma mater, the Ecole Polytechnique, in 1918-23, and as Professor of Architecture & Applied Sciences at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Montreal from 1924 until after 1940.
His master work, and one of outstanding landmarks of ecclesiastical architecture in Quebec City, was his refined modern Gothic design for St. Dominique Roman Catholic Church (1929-30). Executed in Canadian silver granite, the church for the Dominican Order dominates the views along the Grande Allee, and the quality of the design rivals that of other Canadian architects produced during this period such as those works by Napoleon Audet and Henri S. Labelle.
Despite his success in the early period of his career after 1920, he appears to have gradually withdrawn from professional activity after 1941, devoting much of time to teaching architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts School in Montreal. He resigned from the Ontario Assoc. of Architects in May 1938, and later resigned from the P.Q.A.A. in November 1966. He was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada in 1956, and later died in Montreal in 1985 (biog. and port. in Biographies Canadiennes Francaises, viii, 1928-29, 391; inf. from Ontario Assoc. of Architects)
(works in Montreal)
ROMAN CATHOLIC MONASTERY, for the Dominican Fathers, Notre Dame de Grace Avenue at Decarie Boulevard, adjacent to Notre Dame de Grace Roman Catholic Church, 1921-23 (C.R., xxxvi, 17 May 1922, 139; City of Montreal, Les Eglises, 1981, 116-17, illus.; City of Montreal, Les Couvents, 1984, 204-05, illus.)
SACRED HEART ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, Notre Dame de Grace Avenue at Girourard Avenue, 1930-31 (C.R., xliv, 11 June 1930, 62, t.c.)
(works in Outremont)
FAIRMOUNT AVENUE, at l’Epee Street, small apartment block with seven units, for W.H. LaRue, 1921 (City of Outremont b.p. 1406, 6 Sept. 1921)
HUTCHISON STREET, small apartment block for F. Lamontagne, 1922 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], lv, 11 Aug. 1922, 10)
QUERBES AVENUE, a row of three triplex residences for Cecyre & Faubert, 1924 (City of Outremont b.p. 1775, 30 April 1924)
QUERBES AVENUE, duplex residence for J.A. Brisebois, 1924 (City of Outremont b.p. 1817, 4 Sept. 1924)
HUTCHISON STREET, triplex residence for Jules Cecyre, 1925 (City of Outremont b.p. 1928, 29 May 1925)
BLOOMFIELD AVENUE, triplex residence for Louis Filion, 1925 (City of Outremont b.p. 2007, 19 Nov. 1925)
DOLLARD BOULEVARD, residence for S.C. Robinson, 1927-28 (City of Outremont b.p. 2301, 11 Nov. 1927)
(works elsewhere)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., St. Dominique Roman Catholic Church, adjacent to the existing Dominican Monastery, Grande Allee, 1918-19; addition of the Parish Hall, 1925; conversion of the church into a Dominican Monastery, 1934; burned January 1939 and rebuilt by Larue (City of Quebec Archives, b.p. 4113, 29 May 1918; b.p. 4647, 15 May 1919; b.p. 10464, 29 June 1925)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., residence for P.N. Verge, Holland Avenue, 1921 (City of Quebec Archives, b.p. 6169, 23 June 1921)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., residence for G. Pratte, Holland Avenue, 1921 (City of Quebec Archives, b.p. 6170, 23 June 1921)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., residence for N. Cote, Holland Avenue, 1921 (City of Quebec Archives, b.p. 6171, 23 June 1921)
OTTAWA, ONT., parish hall for St. Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic Church, Empress Street, 1922 (C.R., xxxvi, 28 June 1922, 92)
VALLEYFIELD, QUE., Roman Catholic Seminary, c. 1926 (list of works in biography in Biographies Canadiennes Francaises, viii, 1928-29, 391)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., St. Dominique Roman Catholic Church, Grande Allee, 1929-30, and conversion of the old church built 1918-19 into a Dominican Monastery (C.R., xliii, 29 May 1929, 181; City of Quebec Archives, b.p. 3139, 4 June 1929; R.A.I.C. Journal, xii, Sept. 1935, 152-55, illus. & descrip.; Luc Noppen et al, Quebec - Trois siecles d’architecture, 1979, 194, illus.)
OTTAWA, ONT., St. Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic Church, Empress Street at Primrose Street, rebuilding and reconstruction of the church after a fire in February 1931, with addition of a new rectory, 1931 (Ottawa Journal, 9 Feb. 1931, 1, descrip.; and 20 Feb. 1932, 23, descrip.; C.R., xlv, 18 Feb. 1931, 48; C.R., xlv, 6 May 1931, 69)
BERTHIERVILLE, QUE., a large Roman Catholic convent for the Dominican Sisters of the World, 1933 (C.R., xlvii, 12 July 1933, 39)
JOLIETTE, QUE., major addition to St. Eusebe Roman Catholic Hospital, St. Barthlemy Street, 1935 (C.R., xlix, 27 March 1935, 84)
JOLIETTE, QUE., Roman Catholic school for the Sisters of Providence, Manseau Boulevard, 1938 (C.R., li, 29 June 1938, 27, t.c.)
BERTHIERVILLE, QUE., a large Roman Catholic monastery for the Dominican Fathers, 1941 (C.R., liv, 5 March 1941, 33)