Henri S. Labelle (1896-1989)

Henri-Sicotte Labelle (1896-1989) is a French-Canadian architect, member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, known mainly for his achievements in public, religious and institutional architecture. He was born on January 15, 1896 in Montreal, son of Captain Henri Labelle [1869-1951] and his wife Marie-Louise Hermine Sicotte.

Raised in a wealthy family – his father was general manager for Canada of the Royal Insurance Company – the young Henri-S. Labelle studied at the Montreal Catholic High School and then obtained a diploma in architecture from the McGill University in 1914. He completed a two-year internship in New York in the office of Hobart Upjohn, an architect specializing in churches and hospitals. He then took courses at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. On his return to Montreal in 1919, he was hired by the renowned architectural firm Ross and MacDonald; it was at this time, in 1920, that Henri-S. Labelle is listed on the board of the Association of Architects of the Province of Quebec. He then enjoyed real success in his projects – whether religious, commercial or hospital – and quickly became one of the great names in architecture in Quebec.

Notable Achievements:

Among his works, let us mention in 1923, the year he set up on his own, the architecture of the Dupuis Frères Ltée department stores. In 1928, he created the residence in Outremont for Henri Bourassa, founder of the daily newspaper Le Devoir. In religious architecture, he drew up the plans for the chapel of Loyola College in 1934 (today the west campus of Concordia University); those of Valleyfield Cathedral (with Louis-Napoléon Audet), in 1933; the cathedral in Timmins (Ontario); St. Joseph's Cathedral (Edmonton); of the Church of Saint-Louis-de-France (Montreal), in 1936; of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges church (Montreal), in 1939; of the Notre-Dame-de-Czestochowa church (Montreal), in 1946. Also a specialist in hospital architecture, he drew up the plans for the Saint-Luc Hospital (Montreal), in 1954; and Sainte-Justine Hospital (Montreal), in 1950.

Notable works:

The Dupuis Frères LTD stores. (1923-24, 1937, 1947)

Residence for Henri Bourassa, Outremont, avenue Claude-Champagne (1928)

J. Donat Langelier Outremont House, (1931)

The reconstruction of Saint-Paul's Church of Scotland from Sainte-Croix Boulevard in Saint-Laurent (with Lucien Parent, 1931)Loyola College Chapel and Auditorium, Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal (1932-1934)Loyola College Church , Our Lady of Grace, (1934)

Sainte-Cécile Cathedral in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (1934)

Residence Henri Sicotte Labelle, at 660 Hartland, Outremont (1936-1938)

Residence for John Pratt's family, Pratt Avenue, Outremont (1937)

Church of Our Lady of the Snows, Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal (1939)

Sainte-Justine Côte-des-Neiges Hospital, Montreal, (1957)