René-Arthur Fréchet (June 6, 1879 – May 28, 1950) was a Canadian architect who was active in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, modern day Acadia. He designed many churches and public buildings, a number of which are now protected for their architectural significance.

Life

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Fréchet obtained a degree in architecture from Laval University in 1898 and the same year he obtained a job with the

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely o ...

as an architect. Two years later, in 1900, he moved to Moncton, New Brunswick, for the railway, and resided at the Minto Hotel. In 1905, he opened his own architecture firm, developing a specialty in religious and domestic architecture.Regis Brun, ''The Acadians in Moncton, a century and a half of French presence at the Coude'', Moncton, 1999, p. 83. However, he was not limited to these architectural fields. Notably, he designed the Capitol Theater in Moncton in the mid-1920s. NS StBernard tango7174

Fréchet became involved in the Acadian community. In 1903, he married Elvina Cormier, daughter of local merchant Simon Cormier. Fréchet was a member of the provisional management team for the French-language Acadian newspaper , a founding member of the revitalized newspaper (1920s, see Valentin Landry), a city councillor for

Moncton City Council The Moncton City Council (french: Conseil municipal de Moncton) is the governing body of the City of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. It consists of a mayor and ten councillors elected to four-year terms. The council is non- partisan with the mayor ...

for several years, and a member of Société Nationale l'Assomption. René-Arthur Fréchet died on May 28, 1950, in Moncton. Two days later, Émery Leblanc published a letter in ''L'Évangéline'' in memory of Frechet, highlighting his accomplishments.

Works

In Moncton: * Mary's Home * Provincial Bank of Canada * Brunswick Hotel (now Crowne Plaza, significantly altered) * Capitol Theatre * Academy of the Sacred Heart * St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church * Hôtel-Dieu and nurse's residence * Good Shepherd Sisters Building (now the Léopold-Taillon Building, University of Moncton) Elsewhere in New Brunswick: * Saint-Antoine l'Ermite Church, Saint-Antoine * St. Joseph's Church,

Shediac Shediac (official in both languages; ''Shédiac'' is colloquial French) is a heavily Acadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. The town is home to the famous Parlee Beach and is known as the "Lobster Capital of the World". It hosts ...

* Léger Pharmacy, Shediac (1912) * Church of St. Francis Xavier, Charlo * 21 Gray Street, Fredericton (1919) * John Peck House, Hillsborough (1919) * Creaghan Building, Miramichi (1924) * Church of St. John the Baptist and St. Joseph, Tracadie (1925) * Bourgeois House, Tracadie (1938) * Government of Canada Building, North Head (1939) In Nova Scotia * Memorial Church,

Grand-Pré National Historic Site Grand-Pré National Historic Site is a park set aside to commemorate the Grand-Pré area of Nova Scotia as a centre of Acadian settlement from 1682 to 1755, and the British deportation of the Acadians that happened during the French and Indian Wa ...

* St. Bernard Church, St. Bernard, Nova Scotia

Legacy

In 2012, a park in the Sunny Brae neighbourhood of Moncton was named to recognize the legacy of René-Arthur-Fréchet. Fréchet had been virtually forgotten at the time of the park's naming, and in 2016 residents petitioned to have it given another name. The publicity revitalized his memory.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frechet, Rene-Arthur Canadian architects Acadia 1879 births 1950 deaths Université Laval alumni