Roland Dumais fonds
1930-1975
Fonds
The Roland Dumais fonds, 1930-1975, documents architect Roland Dumais’s design and construction of over 500 built projects in Québec. In addition to documenting Dumais’s professional career (1935-1971), the fonds includes materials relating to the everyday administration of Dumais’s architectural firm (1941-1977) as well as materials pertaining to his personal life (1932-1982).
The architectural projects represented in this archive vary in scope and size and include commercial, residential, institutional and religious buildings.The fonds holds a vast selection of architectural drawings, comprising of site surveys, sketches, shop and working drawings; presentation drawings are mounted on boards. Photographic materials consist of portraits of Roland Dumais and photographs of Dumais attending various social events. The archive also contains photographs of architectural models, construction sites, and the interior and exterior views of completed buildings.
Textual documentation consists of contracts, meeting minutes, budgets, invoices, cost estimations, addendums, specifications, inspection reports, client listings, and publication clippings. Personal documents comprise of invitations, correspondence, post cards, financial statements, and various books that Dumais personally owned. Certificates that Dumais received from the Ville de Montréal, the Ontario Association of Architects, and the Association des architectes de la Province de Québec are also included in this fonds.
The 3 reels of film document the construction and inauguration of the Dumais’s Saint-Albert-le-Grand Church. Artefacts in the fonds include 3 models of the École Polyvalente, 1 model of the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) and 1 model of St-Stanislas High School.
This fonds has not yet been arranged.
Joseph Honoré Roland Dumais was born on September 13, 1910 in Montréal, Québec. He attended the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal from 1928-1935 and obtained a diploma in architecture. After completing his studies, Dumais worked for various Montréal architectural firms. He trained at the office of Lajoie et Lapointe, subsequently worked at the firms Courtens et Nicolas and Perreault et Gadbois, before establishing his own private practice in 1937. He married Marie Bernadette Madeleine Pépin on September 14, 1937 and they had three children together.
Between 1940 and1960, Dumais focused on designing and building residential homes (villa, cottages, duplex, and triplex), apartment buildings, schools and churches. In the 1960s, Dumais’s projects diversified to include shopping centers, shops, offices and multi-purpose buildings. Dumais’s built projects are largely located in the Montréal area, but he also completed several projects in Repentigny, Châteauguay, and Berthierville. His most well-known built project to date is the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) (1967), located on Decelles Street in Montréal. Dumais retired in 1975, after completing his last major project: the Crematorium for the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery. Dumais passed away on October 13, 1982.
Throughout his professional career, Dumais took part in several important associations. He was admitted to the Association des architectes de la Province de Québec (AAPQ) in 1937 and participated in various AAPQ committees during the 1950s. In that same year, he became a member of the Royal Canadian Institute of Architects, and in 1954, he joined the Ontario Association of Architects. Additionally, Dumais was a recipient of several awards over the course of his career – he received a bronze and gold medal from the Royal Canadian Institute of Architects in 1934 and 1935 respectively. In 1946, the Sociéte centrale d’hypotheques et de lodgement presented Dumais with a First Prize win for his design of bungalow home. In 1971, Dumais received Design Canada’s Canadian Design of Merit Citation Award for HEC.
Other noteworthy projects completed by Dumais include the Saint-Joseph Church, Saint-Hyacinth (1954); the Saint-Pierre-Apôtre Church, Joliette (1954); the Sainte-Bernadette-Soubirous Church, Montréal (1955); the Drummond Plaza, Montréal (1957), the Chaldéenne des Saints-Martyrs-d’Orient Church, Montréal (1959); Stella-Maris School, Montréal (1961); the Pavillon Saint-Joseph, Ville Saint-Laurent (1965); the Pierre-de-Lestage polytechnic school, Berthierville (1967); the Berthiaume-du-Tremblay seniors' residence, Montréal (1972); and Place Depuis, Montréal (1972).
The Roland Dumais fonds was donated to the Canadian Centre for Architecture on December 30, 1983 and January 29, 2001 by Madeleine Pépin-Dumais. A subsequent addition of 3 16 mm reels of film was made in 2008.
Montréal Island of Montréal Québec Canada
When citing the collection as a whole, use the following citation:
Roland Dumais fonds
Collection Centre Canadien d'Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal
When citing specific collection material, please refer to the object’s specific credit line.
French
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