VAUTRIN, Irenee (1888-1974) was active in Montreal as an architect and as a provincial politician in the Taschereau regime in Quebec. Born in St. Edouard, Quebec on 21 December 1888 and educated at Jacques Cartier Normal School in Montreal, he enrolled in the Ecole Polytechnique at the University of Montreal in 1911. Upon graduating with a Diploma in Architecture in 1914 he entered the office of Ludger Lemieux in Montreal and served an apprenticeship for two years before commencing practise in that city in 1916 in partnership with Charles Bernier. Vautrin specialised in the design of school buildings for the Roman Catholic school boards in and around the Montreal region; these works are invariably formal and classical in their inspiration and could be as frugal or as elaborate as the school budget permitted. His ambitious design for St. Jacques Roman Catholic School (1922-23) is a mannered and stylish work which makes generous use of stone trim and brick panels. He was active in the architectural profession in Montreal and respected by his colleagues who elected him as president of the Province of Quebec Association of Architects in 1932. In 1933 he was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (London, R.I.B.A. Archives, Fellows Membership Application Form No. 3124).
His notoriety, however, comes not from his architectural work but from his political career and his fall from grace in 1936. As a member of the provincial Liberal party he ran for the seat in the St. Jacques riding in 1919 and was elected as a member of the Quebec Legislature. Defeated in the election of 1923 he was again re-elected in 1927 and 1931, and during his last term he served as Deputy Speaker and as Minister of Colonisation in the minority government of Premier Taschereau. In May 1936 the opposition Union Nationale party under Maurice Duplessis exposed a variety of overspending and misappropriation of funds by Vautrin who used public monies for private family vacations, hunting trips and chauffeured expeditions through the Quebec countryside. It was learned that he had his Department pay for a pair of breeches which he wore during trips to the Quebec interior to examine colonisation sites. This seemingly trivial issue over a pair of pants was grasped by both opposition politicians and the public who used it as an election slogan, and 'les culottes a Vautrin' was a major issue that contributed to the devastating defeat of the Liberals in Quebec in the 1936 election. Vautrin was perceived to be 'a pretentious and ambitious minister, an inflated bourgeois with the airs and indulgences of an aristocrat' (see essay by Conrad Black in his book, Duplessis, 1977, 119-23).
Vautrin had little architectural work after 1935, and he resigned from the P.Q.A.A. in 1953. He died near Montreal on 2 February 1974 (obituary in La Presse [Montreal], 5 Feb. 1974, A2; biography in Biographies Canadiennes Francaises, iii, 1923, 234; Who's Who in Canada, 1934-35, page 1700; biog. Gazette [Montreal], 26 July 1934, 8; Repertoire des Parliamentaires Quebecois 1867-1978, 1980, 578). A photographic portrait of Vautrin was published in the Daily Commercial News [Toronto], 29 Jan. 1936, p. 1.
MONTREAL
(with Charles Bernier) STE. PHILOMENE-DE-ROSEMONT SCHOOL, 5th Avenue, addition of new third floor, 1917 (Montreal, Les Edifices Scolaires, 1980, 272-73, illus.)
(with Charles Bernier) ST. MARC'S ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, 1st Avenue, 1917-18 (Montreal, Les Edifices Scolaires, 1980, 252-55, illus.)
ST. MICHEL ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, St. Michel Street, 1922 (Le Prix Courant, liv, 23 Dec. 1921, 64)
ST. ALOYSIUS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, Adam Street at Desjardins Avenue, 1922; addition 1925 (C.R., xxxvi, 8 Nov. 1922, 1072, illus. & descrip.; Montreal, Les Edifices Scolaires, 1980, 210-11, illus.)
STADACONA ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, Adam Street at Darling Street, 1922 (Montreal, Les Edifices Scolaires, 1980, 278-79, illus.)
ST. GERARD D'YOUVILLE ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, Berri Street at Liege Street East, 1924, demolished 2014 (City of Montreal, Les Edifices Scolaires, 1980, 226-27, illus.; inf. Scott Edwards)
ST. PATRICK'S ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, Lagauchetiere Street West, major addition, 1926 (Montreal Daily Star, 27 March 1926, 34, t.c.)
HOLY FAMILY ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, Lajeunesse Street at de Castelnau Street East, 1929-30 (Gazette [Montreal], 12 June 1929, 6, descrip.; 25 July 1929, 4, descrip.; inf. Scott Edwards)
THOMAS D'ARCY McGEE HIGH SCHOOL, Pine Avenue West at Jeanne Mance Street, 1930-31; converted to residential use c. 2000 (Gazette [Montreal], 21 May 1930, 16, descrip.; City of Montreal, Les Edifices Scolaires, 1980, 284-85, illus.; inf. Scott Edwards)