VERBEKE, Gentil Jules Kamiel (1886-1960) was active in Saskatoon, Sask. where he was both a practising architect and professor at the University of Saskatchewan. Born on 25 July 1886 in Belgium he received his early training under Charles Den, Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He practised in that city for four years and undertook several commissions for residential and commercial buildings. In 1906 he emigrated to the United States and worked for eighteen months in St. Paul, Minnesota for Emanuel L. Masqueray, an influential Beaux-Arts trained architect who specialized in ecclesiastical work. Verbeke (pronounced Ver-beck-ee) lived in South Bend, Indiana for two years between 1908 and 1910 and assisted in the office of Schneider & Austin, Architects; later that same year he moved to Montreal, Que. to join MacVicar & Heriot and worked as a draftsman there until 1912.
It was during this period that Verbeke may have been introduced to David R. Brown of Montreal, a partner of the firm of Brown & Vallance who had been selected as architects to develop the new Master Plan for the University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon in June 1909 and who were, at that time, immersed in preparing drawings for the first buildings on the campus. Verbeke accepted a contract position at Saskatoon in early 1913 to prepare drawings for the East Extension to the Engineering Building at the University and after serving with Canadian Forces during World War I he returned there to assist Prof. A.R. Greig, Architect and Superintendent of Buildings at the University of Saskatchewan. He was appointed Demonstrator of Drawing and offered a teaching post in the faculty of Agricultural Engineering in 1922, a position which enabled him to continue to act as Clerk-of-Works and site supervisor for many of the new buildings designed by David Brown and erected in the 1920's on the University campus. These included St. Andrew's College (1922-23), the Chemistry Building (1922-24), the rebuilding of the Engineering Building (1925-26), and the Memorial Gates (1927-28). From 1927 onward he executed several commissions for private clients in Saskatoon while continuing to hold his academic post at the University and retired from practice in 1955. Verbecke died in Saskatoon on 7 April 1960 (obituary in Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 9 April 1960, 32; inf. from Saskatchewan Association of Architects Application Form, January 1928).
(works in Saskatoon unless noted)
ST. JOSEPH'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 8th Street East at Broadway, 1928-29 (C.R., xlii, 29 Feb 1928, 50; Saskatoon Daily Star, 2 June 1928, 3, descrip.; 9 June 1928, 10, illus. & descrip.)
OUR LADY OF VICTORY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, Avenue O South, 1929 (C.R., xliii, 26 June 1929, 60, t.c.)
RUTHERFORD INDOOR ICE ARENA, 1928-29 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 3 Feb. 1928, 18, descrip.)
UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, Astronomical Observatory, 1928; and Rutherford Rink, 1928-29 (inf. Donald Kerr, Saskatoon)
NURSES HOME, ST. PAUL'S HOSPITAL, Avenue P at 20th Street, 1930-31 (C.R., xliv, 23 July 1930, 62, t.c.; Saskatchewan Association of Architects Official Hand Book, 1943, 53, illus.)
AIRD STREET, residence for Prof. Aubrey C. Grubb, 1932 (C.R., xlvi, 7 Sept. 1932, 57)
PRINCE ALBERT, SASK, a Demonstration Model Home, Tenth Street East at Third Avenue East, for the B.P.O.E. Lodge, and occupied by Mrs. Vera Little, 1938; still standing in 2023 (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 11 June 1938, 6, illus. and detailed architectural descrip.; and 3 Oct. 1938, 4)
TISDALE, SASK., major addition to St. Therese Hospital, 1938 (Star-Phoenix [Saskatoon], 25 June 1938, 17, descrip.)
UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN, National Research Council Prairie Regional Library, 1946-47 (inf. Donald Kerr, Saskatoon)
PRINCE ALBERT, SASK., St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Orphanage, 17th Avenue West, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, July 1950, 118, t.c).