LAFRENIERE, Joseph Louis Desrosiers (1875-1929) served as the City Architect for Montreal, but also maintained an independent practise. Born in Montreal, Que., he was educated and trained there, and was first recorded as completing commissions in 1897 at the age of 22 years. In 1901 he was invited by the break-away Toronto organization called The Architecture Eighteen Club to exhibit his drawings there. In 1922 he and Louis Parant received the commission to undertake the complete rebuilding of the Montreal City Hall which had been gutted by fire on 3 March 1922. They worked with a Committee of other architects from Montreal who supervised this 3-year long project. Lafreniere later died in Montreal on 10 March 1929 (obituary and port. La Presse [Montreal], 11 March 1929, 3; Le Devoir [Montreal], 12 March 1929, 4; obit. R.A.I.C. Journal, vi, April 1929, p. xxx).
(works in Montreal and area)
CHAMBORD STREET, two houses for Pierre Picotte, 1897 (C.R., viii, 22 April 1897, 2, t.c.)
STE. CATHERINE STREET EAST, design for a store front, 1901 (Toronto Architecture 18 Club, Exhibition Catalogue, 1901)
COTE DES NEIGES CEMETERY, a proposal for a Mausoleum, 1901 (Toronto Architecture 18 Club Exhibition Catalogue, 1901)
OUTREMONT, residence for Joseph A. Therien, Champagneur Avenue at St. Viateur Avenue, 1913 (Outremont b.p. 789, 13 May 1913; City of Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 704-07, illus.)
DALY & MORIN CO., St. Paul Street, rebuilding of commercial block, and addition of 3 floors, with stores, for the Religieuses Hospitalieres de St. Joseph, 1914 (City of Montreal, Les Magasins Les Cinemas, 1985, 111)
OUTREMONT, residence for I. Prefontaine, Hollyrood Avenue, 1916 (Outremont b.p. 1047, 2 Aug. 1916)
OUTREMONT, pair of houses at 14-16 Cambrai Avenue, and pair of houses at 15-17 Cambrai Avenue, for the Pratt Estate, 1921 (Outremont b.p. 1337, 7 April 1921, and b.p. 1365, 25 May 1921)
DUNLOP STREET, pair of houses for the Pratt Estate, 1921 (Le Prix Courant, liv, 1 July 1921, p. 48)
(with Louis Parant) MONTREAL CITY HALL, Notre Dame Street East, reconstruction of the City Hall after a fire in March 1922, rebuilt 1922-25, with addition of a full storey above existing building; still standing in 2023 (Montreal Daily Star, 17 April 1925, 33, descrip.; Const., xix, Feb. 1926, 40-48, 60, illus.; R.A.I.C. Journal, v, April 1928, 119-25, illus. & descrip.; and xxxi and xxxii, illus.; City of Montreal, Les Edifices Publics, 1981, 110-15, illus.)
FIRE HALL STATION NO. 35, Lajeunesse Street at Gouin Boulevard, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 2 May 1928, 53; City of Montreal, Les Edifices Publics, 1981, 228-29, illus.)
COMPETITIONS
MONTREAL, QUE., Eglise St. Jean Baptiste, Rachel Street East at Henri Julien Avenue, 1912. Lafreniere was one of several Montreal architects who submitted designs for this Roman Catholic Church (City of Montreal, Les Eglises, 1981, 252). The winner was Casimir St. Jean.