LECOURT, Joseph Pierre Michel (1824-1913) was born at Quebec City on 5 September 1824 and studied at the seminaries in Quebec City and Nicolet, Que. from 1840 to 1844. He received his engineering and architectural training under Frederick Hacker in 1845-46 and then formed a partnership with Goodlatte R. Browne in 1848 (see list of works under Browne & Lecourt). From 1853 he was active in Quebec City where he practised alone under his own name before accepting the post of City Architect for Quebec in 1858-60. He was briefly in partnership with Charles M. Tate in 1863-64 (see list of works under Tate & Lecourt), then moved to Ottawa in 1865 to work in the Indian Lands Branch of the federal government. In 1868 he was one of nine architects to submit plans in the competition for the Central Western School in Ottawa (Ottawa Citizen, 13 March 1868, 3). His scheme was passed over in favour of that by William Hodgson. Lecourt was later appointed Superintending Architect for Manitoba in 1873, a position which necessitated his move to Winnipeg where he designed and supervised the construction of several important works including the Manitoba Parliament Building (1882; demol. 1920), a refined Second Empire style landmark which drew inspiration from Italian precedent but was 'modified to suit the requirements of the climate'.
With the dramatic downturn in building activity in Winnipeg in 1883 Lecourt decided to return to Ottawa and continued to work as a Supervising Architect overseeing the construction of many federal buildings in Quebec and the Maritimes which had been designed by Thomas Fuller, the Chief Architect of the Dept. of Public Works. Lecourt died in Ottawa on 9 March 1913 (obituary in the Ottawa Journal, 11 March 1913, 12; biog. and port. in Winnipeg Tribune, 24 Feb. 1954, 13; biog., port. and list of works in A.J.H. Richardson, Quebec City: Architects, Artisans & Builders, 1984, 348-52, 375-7, illus.; inf. from Lucie Morisset, Quebec City)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., Champlain Market Hall, Place Champlain, 1858; burned 1899 (Le Canadien [Quebec City], 25 Oct. 1858, 4; dwgs. for two schemes at City of Quebec Archives, L.C. CPH 3-6-8; Cote D 352.1; L. Noppen et al, Quebec: Trois siecles d'architecture, 1979, 88, 312, illus.)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., house on Champlain Street for Abraham Joseph, 1859 (A.J.H. Richardson, list of works)
TEMISCOUTA, QUE., house for Alexandra Lemoine, 1862 (A.J.H. Richardson, list of works)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., Ladies Protestant Home, St. Louis Road, 1862 (Morning Chronicle [Quebec City], 11 June 1862, 2; L. Noppen et al, Québec: Trois siécles d'architecture, 1979, 90, 365, illus.; D. Blanchet, Decouvir la Grande Allee, 1984, 32-3, illus.)
BEAUPORT, QUE., Asylum for Women, Canardiere Street, 1863; burned 1875 and rebuilt with additional storey by J.F. Peachy (L. Noppen et al, Quebec: Trois siecles d'architecture, 1979, 362, illus.)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., two houses at Fabrique Street and Garneau Street for Francois O. Boisvert, 1863 (A.J.H. Richardson, list of works)
HULL, QUE., Notre-Dame-de-Grace Roman Catholic Church, Victoria Street at Notre Dame Street, 1868; burned 1888 (E. Cinq-Mars, Hull-Son Origine, Ses Progress, 1908, 43, 49, illus.)
OTTAWA, ONT., building for the Queen's Printer, 1869 (La Minerve [Montreal], 27 Jan. 1869, 2)
OTTAWA, ONT., two houses on Gloucester Street for W. Horace Lee, 1869 (Ottawa Citizen, 23 June 1869, 3, t.c.)
OTTAWA, ONT., St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, St. Patrick Street, 1873 (L. Brault, Sainte-Anne d'Ottawa: Cent ans d'histoire 1873-1973, 14-17; Ottawa: A Guide to Heritage Structures, 2000, 153, illus.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., Custom House, Post Office and Land & Revenue Offices, Main Street at Owen Street, 1873-75 (Manitoban [Winnipeg], 23 Aug. 1873, 2; Canada, Sessional Papers, 1876, No. 6, Appendix 17, 92)
STONY MOUNTAIN, MAN., administration building and cellblock at the Penitentiary, 1874-77; guards' houses, stables, laundry, school, ice house and blacksmith's shop, 1880-82; all demol. (Daily Free Press [Winnipeg], 3 Aug. 1874, 3; Canada, Sessional Papers, 1875, No. 7, Appendix 19, 128-9, descrip.; l'Opinion Publique (Montreal), 25 Aug. 1881, 408; Spectator [Hamilton], 17 Aug. 1881, 1, t.c.)
FORT OSBORNE, MAN., soldiers' barracks, 1877 (NAC, RG11, Vol. 572, 31 July 1877, signed drawings)
WINNIPEG, MAN., Immigrant Hospital, Victoria Square, Point Douglas, 1880 (Winnipeg Daily Times, 30 Oct. 1880, 1)
(with Thomas S. Scott) WINNIPEG, MAN., Legislative Building, Kennedy Street, 1881-83; demol. 1920 (Spectator [Hamilton], 15 Feb. 1881, 1, t.c.; Winnipeg Daily Times, 17 Feb. 1881, 1, descript.; Canada, Sessional Papers, No. 7, 1882, Appendix 3, 25-6, descrip.; C. Cameron & J. Wright, Second Empire Style in Canadian Architecture, 1980, 66-7, illus.)
(with Thomas S. Scott) WINNIPEG, MAN., Lieutenant-Governor's Residence, Louise Street, 1881-82 (Winnipeg Daily Times, 17 Feb. 1881, 1, descript.; Canada, Sessional Papers, No. 7, 1882, Appendix 3, 25-6, descrip.)