Étienne-Joseph Gaboury (April 24, 1930 – October 14, 2022) was a Canadian architect from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba. He was noted for designing key buildings in his hometown, such as the Royal Canadian Mint building,

Esplanade Riel Esplanade Riel is a pedestrian bridge located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was named in honour of Louis Riel. It is a side-spar cable-stayed bridge which spans the Red River connecting downtown Winnipeg and The Forks historic area with St. Bon ...

Saint Boniface Cathedral St. Boniface Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic cathedral in St. Boniface, Winnipeg, St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is an important building in Winnipeg, and is the principal church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Boniface, ...

, and the Precious Blood Church, and was regarded as the province's greatest architect.

Early life

Gaboury was born in Bruxelles, Manitoba, on April 24, 1930. His parents, Napoléon and Valentine Gaboury, were

French-Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...

farmers. He was the youngest of 11 children, and was a distant relative of

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

. Gaboury studied

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

at St. Boniface College in the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1953. He then obtained a Bachelor of Architecture from the same institution five years later. While studying at the École des Beaux Arts in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from 1958 to 1959, he was greatly influenced by the designs of

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

Career

After returning from Paris, Gaboury settled in

, where he established an architectural partnership with Denis Lussier and Frank Sigurdson. He eventually became its sole principal in 1976. Gaboury was known for his regional prairie designs that incorporated elements of the physical, emotional, and spiritual, and characterized himself as a "plains architect". He ultimately completed more than 300 projects, both in Canada and internationally, throughout his almost five-decade-long career. Canadian embassy in Mexico City

Notable projects by Gaboury include the new

(1972), the Royal Canadian Mint building (1978), and the

(2003), all in

. The

tipi A tipi or tepee ( ) is a conical lodge tent that is distinguished from other conical tents by the smoke flaps at the top of the structure, and historically made of animal hides or pelts or, in more recent generations, of canvas stretched on ...

-style Precious Blood Church – completed in 1968 in St. Boniface, Manitoba – featured eleven interior wood beams which form a smokeholelike skylight thirty metres above the altar. Gaboury later revealed that the project nearly fell through, with five earlier proposals being rejected before the final design was agreed to. His work in Manitoba extended beyond Winnipeg, as he was the architect for the Helen Betty Osborne Ininew Education Resource Centre (HBOIERC) in Norway House,

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. The Canadian Embassy in Mexico (1982) was arguably his most well-known overseas project. Costing C$7.5 million and taking two years to build, the building's Mexican-inspired exterior and Canadian interior represented a dramatic departure from Gaboury usual style. He initially envisioned utilizing different tones of marble to differentiate the levels of the courtyard floor, but ultimately settled on a single tone due to the scarcity of the former when it came time to build. It was inaugurated by prime minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

in January 1982.

Sculpture of Louis Riel (1970)

Gaboury designed the wall that surrounds sculptor Marcien Lemay's depiction of Canadian Métis leader

as a naked and tortured figure. Gaboury envisioned the two surrounding concrete columns as a "cage" that epitomized Riel's spirit, instead of being a mere reproduction of the leader. He stated that he "want dpeople to feel Riel's anxiety ndbecome part of the monument". The statue was unveiled in 1970 and stood on the grounds of the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba () is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at List of Manitoba genera ...

for 23 years. The design proved to be controversial, attracting objections from the Métis community and being subjected to vandalism on multiple occasions. The statue was subsequently moved to the grounds of the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface in 1995.

Personal life

Gaboury's wife was a ceramist. Their daughter, , was an author and professor of literature at the University of St. Boniface. Grandfather of , multidisciplinary visual artist Gaboury died on October 14, 2022, at the age of 92.

Awards and honours

Gaboury was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Manitoba in 1987. He had earlier been conferred a Canadian Heritage Award for his reconstruction of Saint Boniface Cathedral. Gaboury was appointed a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

(CM) in May 2010 and invested six months later in November. Two years later, he was made a Member of the Order of Manitoba (OM).

Books

* ''Étienne Gaboury'', Éditions du Blé (2005)

References

External links

Archiseek biography

Canadian Encyclopedia entry

Historic Places in Canada

Tribute to Gaboury
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaboury, Etienne 1930 births 2022 deaths Canadian architects Franco-Manitoban people Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Manitoba People from Northern Region, Manitoba University of Manitoba alumni