MARTIN, Father Felix (1804-1886), a Jesuit priest, architect, teacher and author, was active in Montreal, Que. from 1842 to 1861. He was said to have been an influential figure in the development of the Renaissance Revival style in the province of Quebec, and he appears to have been remarkably well-informed on subjects relating to architecture and design, yet his aesthetic treatment of the cut stone facade for St. Francois Xavier Church in Caughnawaga (1845-46) was particularly severe and unadorned, especially when compared to the ecclesiastical work of his contemporaries such as Victor Bourgeau or Charles P.F. Baillairge. In 1844 he collaborated with the Montreal architect Pierre L. Morin on the basic plans for St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Montreal, but his proposals for the design and ornamentation of the interior, and for the bell tower of the church, were not adopted.
Martin was born in Auray, France on 4 October 1804. He did not receive a formal education in architecture, nor did he serve an apprenticeship with an architect in France. He became an ordained priest in the Jesuit order in 1831, and on matters relating to architecture, he appears to have been entirely self-taught, gaining his knowledge of design and construction from his extensive travels in Spain, Switzerland, France and Belgium from 1832 to 1839. Martin arrived in Montreal in May 1842 and shortly after drew plans for several churches and colleges, either under his own name, or in collaboration with others. His most important work was that for St. Mary’s College, Montreal (1847-51), in which he set out his initial concept of a sprawling four storey Renaissance Revival block with projecting wings and an elaborate peristyle entrance, with the entire building crowned by a large circular dome. The proposed entrance portico was never built, although the dome was indeed built as planned, but later removed in 1913.
Martin returned to France in 1861 but no information on his activity as an architect has been found. He became rector at the Jesuit College in Vannes, and later retired in 1880. He died in Paris on 25 November 1886 (biog. J.B.A. Allaire, Dictionnaire Biographique du Clerge Canadien-Francais, 1910, 371; The Catholic Encyclopedia [New York], 1910, ix, 726-7; J.R. Harper, Early Painters and Engravers in Canada, 1970, 216; Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 1982, xi, 587-9). An extensive illustrated article on the career and work of Father Felix Martin has been recently published in 2014 (Jean-Sebastien Sauve, “Les Carnets de Croquis du Pere Jesuite Felix Martin” in the Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, xxxix, No. 1, Spring 2014, 35-56, illus.)
(works in Montreal and area)
(with Pierre L. Morin) MONTREAL, QUE., St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, Dorchester Boulevard West at St. Alexandre Street, 1843-47 (P. Desjardins, Le College Sainte-Marie de Montreal, 1940, 212; Montreal, Les Eglises, 1981, 340-47, illus.; J.C. Marsan, Montreal in Evolution, 1981, 200; orig. watercolour drawings by Martin now in the possession of the Jesuit Archives of Canada, Montreal, Acc. BO-47-1, 16; BO-47-1, 19)
JOLIETTE, QUE., interior decoration of the Roman Catholic Cathedral, 1844-45 (inf. Prof. Raymonde Gauthier, Laval Univ., Quebec City)
NAPIERVILLE, QUE., St. Cyprien Roman Catholic Church, 1844-46 (inf. Prof. Raymonde Gauthier, Laval Univ., Quebec City)
CAUGHNAWAGA, QUE., St. Francois Xavier Roman Catholic Church, 1845-46 (R.P.H. Bechard, J’ai cent ans: L’Eglise Saint-Francois-Xavier de Caughnawaga, 1961, 12, 29, 36, illus.)
MONTREAL, QUE., St. Mary’s Roman Catholic College, Dorchester Street East at Bleury Street, 1847-55; altered with an additional storey 1892; dome removed 1913 (College Ste. Marie et Eglise du Gesu, 1876, 6-9, illus.; P. Desjardins, Le College Sainte Marie de Montreal, 1940, 50). A group of photographic plates of this complex, taken c. 1880, together with a history of the college, appears in the publication called Dominion Illustrated: Special Number Devoted to Montreal, 1891, 78-80.
SAULT-AU-RECOLLET, QUE., Maison St. Joseph, at the Jesuit Seminary, Henri-Bourassa Boulevard East at Papineau Avenue, 1852-53 ( R. Desrochers, Le Sault-au-Recollet, 1936, 89; Montreal, Les Couvents, 1984, 294-7, illus.)