Mesnard, Albert

MESNARD, Albert (1847-1909), active in Montreal, Quebec in several partnerships, and under his own name, including:

Albert Mesnard, Montreal, 1873-1877
Perrault & Mesnard, Montreal, 1880-1892 (with Maurice Perrault)
Perrault, Mesnard & Venne, Montreal, 1892-1895 (with Maurice Perrault and Louis A. Venne)
Mesnard & Daoust, Montreal, 1897-98 (with Theodore Daoust)
Mesnard & Godin, Montreal, 1901-1902 (with J.A. Godin)
Bernier & Mesnard, Montreal, 1902-1907 (with Charles Bernier)

Mesnard was born at St. Lin, Que. in 1847 and studied at the college in L'Assumption, Que. He came to Montreal to work as an assistant to Victor Bourgeau and then opened an office under his own name in 1873. His early architectural training took place in the office of Henri M. Perrault as early as 1874, because he was noted in the Evening Star [Montreal] of 12 November 1874, page 2 as having assisted Mr. Perrault with the preparation of the plans for the mammoth Post Office Building in downtown Montreal. Just three years later, in 1877 it was stated that Mesnard "......had charge of the execution of the plans" by H.M. Perrault for the immense Villa Maria College in Monklands, Montreal, initially planned to be nearly 750 feet long and 4 storeys high (Gazette [Montreal], 24 Sept. 1877, 3).

During the next forty years he worked alone or in partnership with other Montreal architects including Maurice Perrault (see list of works under Perrault & Mesnard 1880-92; Perrault, Mesnard & Venne 1892-95), with Theo Daoust (Mesnard & Daoust 1897-98), with Joseph A. Godin (Mesnard & Godin 1901-02) and with Charles H. Bernier (see list of works under Bernier & Mesnard 1903-07). His most successful collaboration was undertaken with Maurice Perrault, with whom he opened an office in January 1880 (Gazette [Montreal], 12 Jan. 1880, 2, advert.). Their firm was frequently sought after by officials of the Roman Catholic Church in both Canada and the United States for their designs, and they can be credited with many ecclesiastical landmarks as far away as Nova Scotia and British Columbia (see list of works under Perrault & Mesnard). After the dissolution of their office in December 1895 Mesnard continued to practice under his own name and with others, but his own work possessed a level of dull competence that was no match for the high standard of design he had attained in association with Perrault. His scheme for St. Irenee Roman Catholic Church on Atwater Street (1902; burned 1911; then rebuilt) was an incongruous and eclectic mixture of Byzantine and Greco-Roman features that lacked the consistency and assuredness of his earlier work. Mesnard died in Montreal on 6 September 1909 (obituary and port. in La Presse [Montreal], 7 Sept. 1909, 16; and 8 Sept. 1909, 5; obituary Montreal Daily Star, 8 Sept. 1909, 5).

ALBERT MESNARD (works in Montreal unless noted)

ST. DIZIER STREET, at St. Paul Street, office block for the Religieuses Hospitaliers de St. Joseph, 1873-74 (Montreal, Les Magasins Les Cinemas, 1985, 108, illus.)
ACADEMIE MARIE-ROSE, Rachel Street at Drolet Street, 1875-76 (La Minerve [Montreal], 2 Sept. 1875, 2; l'Opinion Publique, vi, 16 Sept. 1875, 442; Montreal, Les Couvents, 1984, 2-5, illus.)
ST. LIN, QUE., Roman Catholic Convent, 1877-78 (Evening Star [Montreal], 18 Dec. 1877, 1, descrip.)

MESNARD & DAOUST (works in Montreal)

STANLEY STREET, residence for L.J. Gaboury, 1897 (C.R., viii, 16 Sept. 1897, 3)
ST. ELIZABETH GIRL'S SCHOOL, St. Elizabeth Avenue, in St. Henri, major addition, 1897 (C.R., viii, 21 Oct. 1897, 2, t.c.)
LAVAL AVENUE, cottage for J.B. G. Perrault, 1897 (C.R., viii, 2 Dec. 1897, 3)
CATHEDRAL STREET, house for Mrs. M.E. Perreault, 1897 (C.R., viii, 2 Dec. 1897, 3)
DORCHESTER STREET, two houses for B. Deslauriers, 1898 (C.R., ix, 13 April 1898, 3, t.c.)
CITY HALL AVENUE, near Ontario Street, three houses for P. Deslauriers, 1898 (C.R., ix, 27 April 1898, 6)

MESNARD & GODIN (works in Montreal)

LAVAL AVENUE, north of Sherbrooke Street East, residence for Pierrre Desforges, 1901 (Le Prix Courant, xxxii, 5 July 1901, 21; Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 197-9, illus.)
STE. ANNE-DE-BELLEVUE, QUE., interior decoration of the Roman Catholic Church, 1901 (Le Prix Courant, xxxi, 10 May 1901, 715)
BEAUBIEN STREET, pharmacy and residence for Dr. Joseph A. Sylvestre, 1901 (Le Prix Courant, xxxi, 10 May 1901, 715)
ST. EDOUARD ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, St. Denis Street at Beaubien Street, basement of the church and presbytery, 1901; church completed 1907-09 by J.O. Turgeon (C.R., xii, 1 May 1901, 5)
HOSPICE BENOIT JOSEPH, at Longue Pointe, new wing, 1901 (Le Prix Courant, xxxii, 9 Aug. 1901, 214)