Leprohon, Etienne Alcibiade

LEPROHON, Etienne Alcibiade (1842 - 1902), son of Louis Francois Xavier Leprohon of Montreal, was active there from 1868 and may have trained under Victor Bourgeau, with whom he was to form a partnership in January 1869 (see list of works under Bourgeau & Leprohon). It is unclear what contribution he made to the work of Bourgeau, but his knowledge of ecclesiastical sculpture and decoration which he had gained from his father may have enabled him to assist with more practical aspects of construction and supervision of important works by this successful office. For unknown reasons their collaboration ended on 29 May 1877 when the partnership was dissolved. The name of E.A. Leprohon continues to appear in Montreal City Directories until 1882 when he again joined in an association with Bourgeau, and they continued to work together until the death of Bourgeau in March 1888. By June 1888 Leprohon had moved to Ottawa where he resided on Daly Street until 1892. In July 1888 he submitted a design in competition for the new Central Police Station in Ottawa (Ottawa Journal, 13 July 1888, 4). His drawings, presented under the pseudonym "Faith", were awarded First Prize.

In 1894 he had returned to Montreal where he is listed as 'engineer' until 1897. His last known activity was as a draftsman in the Surveyor General's Office in Ottawa (Ottawa City Directory, 1900, 312). Only one commission by Leprohon has recently come to light, that for an Italianate design of a commercial block for Pierre Dupuis, St. Laurent Boulevard near Ste. Catherine Street, MONTREAL, QUE., completed in 1890 while Leprohon was residing in Ottawa (Gazette [Montreal], 8 January 2000, H4, illus. & descrip). No information on his architectural activity after 1900 has been found. Leprohon died in Ottawa on 25 July 1902 at the age of 59 years (obituary in Evening Journal [Ottawa], 26 July 1902, 9; Ottawa Citizen, 29 July 1902, 8)