Oscar Beauchemin

Oscar Beauchemin ( – January 15, 1938) was an American architect, and civil engineer based out of Holyoke, Massachusetts who designed a number of tenements and commercial blocks in the Greater Springfield area, and whose work was prominent in the Main Street architectural landscape of the Springdale neighborhood of Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Beauchemin was born in Quebec around the year 1876, with his family relocating to Holyoke within a year, where he would spend nearly his entire childhood. For the first part of his subsequent career, he was employed by the Merrick Lumber Company. Having a long-held interest in designing buildings, he first became active as an architect in 1903, and opened his own independent firm in 1908.

By the end of his career Beauchemin had become under the employ of Holyoke's municipal engineering department. Throughout his life he was an active member Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters and was known to be a competitive candlepin bowler.

Following a period of brief illness, he died in the evening of January 15, 1938 at his home at about the age of 62.

Selected works

While known to have constructed smaller dwellings as well, Beauchemin's works were generally large brick tenements with ground-floor storefronts or offices, done in the neoclassical style. Among features common to his work were festoon-adorned friezes, belt courses and angled windows placed at a corner of the front facade.

* J.R. Smith Block, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1906)
* Bergeron Apartments, Chicopee, Massachusetts (1909)
* The Clinton, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1909)
* Cavagnare Block/736-740 Dwight St., Holyoke, Massachusetts (1909, demolished )
* Oakdale Pharmacy Block, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1910)
* The Parkview, Springdale, Holyoke, Massachusetts ()
* Paquette Block, Springdale, Holyoke, Massachusetts ()HLY.1312
MACRIS, Massachusetts Historical Commission.
* Guenther Block, Springdale, Holyoke, Massachusetts ()
* Wayfinders Dwight/Clinton, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1910), formerly Gauthier Block
* 331-335 Main Street, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1911, demolished 1989)
* Choiniere & Beauregard Block, Springfield, Massachusetts (1912, demolished)
*Pelott Block, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1912)
* Bijou Theater, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1913, 1916 expansion, demolished)
* Holyoke Transportation Center, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1914), formerly Holyoke Central Fire Station
* Knights of Columbus Building, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1915, demolished)
* M. A. Scannell House, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1915)
* The Colonial/Beauvais Block, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1916)
* Dennis M. Reardon House, South Hadley, Massachusetts (1916)
* Valley Arena Gardens, Holyoke, Massachusetts (1926), noted sports and entertainment venue best known as the site of Rocky Marciano's professional debut

File:Holyoke, MA - old Central Fire Station 01.jpg, The former Central Fire Station, redeveloped as the Holyoke Transportation Center in 2010
File:Gauthier_Block,_Holyoke,_Mass.jpg, Gauthier Block, built
File:Guenther-Paquette_Blocks,_Holyoke,_Mass.jpg, Guenther Block (left) and Paquette Block (right), both built circa 1909-1910
File:The_Parkview,_Holyoke,_Mass.jpg, The Parkview, built 1910; it along with Guenther and Paquette being defining features of Springdale's Main Street landscape

See also

* George P. B. Alderman
* James A. Clough

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauchemin, Oscar
Date of birth unknown
1938 deaths
20th-century American architects
American candlepin bowling players
19th-century Roman Catholics
20th-century Roman Catholics
American people of French-Canadian descent
Architects from Quebec
People from Holyoke, Massachusetts
1870s births
Canadian emigrants to the United States
Catholics from Massachusetts
Architects from Massachusetts