In Memoriam: André Mercure
Architect André Mercure passed away on April 30, 2024.
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Architect André Mercure recently passed away.
Mercure was born in St-Hyacinthe in 1935 and graduated from Collège classique de St-Hyacinthe in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction.
He went on to study architecture at the Université de Montréal, graduating in 1960 with Great Distinction from the School of Architecture. During this period, he also received a European Travel Scholarship Award to study in Western Europe and Scandinavia. In 1960, he received the RAIC Medal.
In 1957, Maurice Desnoyers and André Mercure became official partners, and their collaboration took off, with projects including the St-Hyacinthe courthouse and, under Mercure’s direction, numerous renovation projects at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
When the offices of Desnoyers Mercure Architectes moved to Montreal in 1964, a new chapter began, and Mercure became the person for large-scale projects. This included the expansion of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Jean-Noel-Desmarais pavilion), which was carried out alongside Moshe Safdie, completed in 1991 and awarded the OAQ Mention d’Excellence in 1993. The project, on which André Mercure held the role of patron architect and project manager, involved the construction of three modern pavilions, one of which was linked to the old museum dating from 1912.
“Clients, partners, collaborators and employees all agree that André Mercure was a kind-hearted, touching, calm and empathetic man. He was a mentor to many young architects who crossed his path. A man of unfailing loyalty, he believed that architects should set an example of professional ethics. He demonstrated this unfailingly and always with great elegance throughout his long career, notably on projects for the Université de Montréal and Polytechnique, his main clients until 2009, when he officially retired,” reads a statement by the DMA Architectes team.
This article was translated from a French-language tribute posted by DMA Architectes.
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