VENNE, Louis Alphonse (1875-1934) was born in Montreal on 24 August 1875 and attended the Christian Brothers School where he received his early education. He did not obtain any formal university or college training in architecture but instead gained most of his experience as an apprentice of the Montreal architect Maurice Perrault for whom he worked as draftsman from 1896 until 1902. The name of L. Alphonse Venne is not to be confused with Joseph Venne, another architect working in Montreal at the same time and to whom he appears to be unrelated. After completing the period of training with Maurice Perrault he commenced practise under his own name in late 1902 and in April 1912 formed a partnership with J. Dalbe Viau of Montreal. Their partnership flourished and many of Venne's most significant works were executed during this period from 1912 until 1934 when Venne died (see list of works under Viau & Venne). He was a skilled proponent of the monumental Beaux-Arts style and he was a talented delineator in his own right, as can be seen from his skillfully executed design for an 'Office Building in Montreal' which he exhibited in Toronto in 1901 (Catalogue of the First Exhibition of the Toronto Architecture Eighteen Club, 1901, 155, illus.). The commission which brought him national attention and renown is undoubtedly that for St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Oratory, Mount Royal, a monumental basilica in the Italian Renaissance style begun in 1924 in collaboration with J. Dalbe Viau and not completed until 1951, long after the death of both partners who had conceived this landmark work which now stands as a key symbol of the religious and architectural iconography of Montreal.
Venne was also active as a local politician in St. Lambert, a small town on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River opposite Montreal where he served as Alderman from 1911 until 1914, and was elected Mayor for two consecutive terms in 1915 and again in 1916. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1907, and died in Montreal on 16 January 1934 (obituary in La Presse [Montreal], 17 Jan 1934, 14; Gazette [Montreal], 17 Jan 1934, 7; biography in La Presse [Montreal], 3 Sept. 1910, 33; biography and portrait in Who's Who and Why in Canada, 1915-16, 1168; Biographies Canadiennes Francaises, 1922, 185; W. Wood, The Storied Province of Quebec, 1931, iv, 471-72). A detailed biography of Louis A. Venne has recently been published in The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. 16, 1931-40 (available online).
L. Alphonse VENNE (works in Montreal and area)
DE LA MONTAGNE STREET, office building for B. Ledoux & Co., 1902 (Le Prix Courant, xxxiv, 29 Aug. 1902, 41)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., presbytery for St. Lambert Roman Catholic Church, Lorne Avenue opposite Aberdeen Street, 1904; demol. c. 1960 (La Presse [Montreal], 17 June 1904, 7, illus.)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., residence for J. W. Bolton, Victoria Avenue West at St. Francis Street, 1904; still standing in 2023 (Le Prix Courant, Week No. 34, 1904, 53; inf. Yves Guillet, St. Lambert)
OSBORNE STREET, factory for B. Ledoux & Co., 1904 (Le Prix Courant, Week No. 34, 1904, 53)
HOCHELAGA, presbytery for Nativite de la Ste. Vierge Roman Catholic Church, Dezery Street, 1904 (Le Prix Courant, Week No. 35, 1904, 53)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE.,residence for the architect Louis A. Venne, Notre Dame Avenue, 1905; demol. c. 1964 (Le Prix Courant, Week No. 46, 1905, 58)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., Town Hall, Victoria Avenue at Argyle Street, 1906; burned 1932 (Le Prix Courant, Week No. 19, 1906, 40; inf. Yves Guillet, St. Lambert)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., residence for E.J. Kastner, Lorne Avenue, 1906; demol. c 1980 (Le Prix Courant, Week No. 19, 1906, 40)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., Convent for the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, Riverside Drive at Notre Dame Avenue, 1909-10; with major addition in 1930 by Viau & Venne (La Presse [Montreal], 16 July 1909, 8, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxiii, 20 Oct. 1909, 21; inf. Yves Guillet, St. Lambert)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., residence for E. Merrill Desaulniers, Victoria Avenue at Webster Street, 1909; still standing in 2023, and converted to commercial use (C.R., xxiii, 20 Oct. 1909, 22; inf. Yves Guillet, St. Lambert)
(attributed) ST.. LAMBERT, QUE., residence for Edmond Desaulniers, Notre Dame Street at Webster Street, 1910; still standing in 2023 (inf. Yves Guillet, St. Lambert)
ESPLANADE AVENUE, at Bernard Street, stores and apartments for Wilfrid Bessette, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 23 March 1910, 25; Montreal, Les Appartements, 1991, 14-16, illus.)
MONK BOULEVARD, residence for L.E. Hetu, Ville Emard, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 2 March 1910, 25, t.c.)
TRIUMPHAL ARCH, with street decorations on St. Hubert Street, Cherrier Street, Laval Street, Rachel Street, erected for the Eucharistic Congress in Montreal in Sept. 1910 (La Presse [Montreal], 4 May 1910, 16, illus.; and 10 May 1910, 1, illus.; and 30 July 1910, 9, illus.)
COTE ST. PAUL, Christian Brothers Roman Catholic Boys School, Church Avenue at Angers Avenue, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 1 June 1910, 25; and 29 June 1910, 26; Montreal Daily Star, 7 June 1910, 12, t.c.)
ST. LAMBERT, QUE., major addition to St. Lambert Roman Catholic Church, Lorne Avenue opposite Aberdeen Street, 1910; church burned 1936 and replaced by new church (Montreal Daily Star, 26 Aug 1910, 6)
(with J. Dalbe Viau) ARTISANS CANADIENS FRANCAIS, St. Denis Street at Vitre Avenue, new Clubhouse, 1910-11 (La Patrie [Montreal], 22 Nov. 1910, 1, illus. & descrip.; Montreal Daily Star, 30 Dec. 1910, 14, t.c.; C.R., xxv, 4 Oct. 1911, 59)
OUTREMONT, residence for E.P. Vebert, Robert Avenue, 1911 (City of Outremont b.p. 467, 12 May 1911)
FULLUM STREET, residence for the Roman Catholic Brothers of the Sacred Heart, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 25 Oct. 1911, 61)
ST. STANISLAS DE KOSTKA ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH & PRESBYTERY, St. Joseph Boulevard East at Garnier Street, 1911; completed in 1918 by Viau & Venne (La Presse [Montreal], 4 March 1911, 30, illus.; Building News [London], cxv, 3 July 1918, 14, descrip.; Montreal, Les Eglises, 1981, 378-83, illus.)
ACADEMIE ST. STANISLAS, Sanguinet Street, major addition, 1912 (La Presse [Montreal], 10 Aug. 1912, 18, illus.)
VERDUN GENERAL HOSPITAL, Lasalle Boulevard at Hickson Avenue, 1930-31 (Montreal, Les Edifices Publics, 1981, 96-99, illus.; Tim Morawetz, Art Deco Architecture Across Canada, 2017, 110, illus. & descrip.)