Famous Canadian Architect, Etienne Gaboury, dies at 92

Étienne-Joseph Gaboury, CM OM, was a Canadian architect from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

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Architect Étienne Gaboury, who designed some of Winnipeg’s most famous structures, passed away at age 92.

According to a coworker, the man who designed St. Boniface Cathedral and Esplanade Riel was “a superb artist.”

The famed Franco-Manitoba architect Étienne Gaboury, who designed some of Winnipeg’s most recognizable buildings, has passed away.

The Royal Canadian Mint, the Esplanade Riel, the St. Boniface Cathedral, and the spiral-roofed Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church in St. Boniface are among the buildings Gaboury designed. His family reported that he passed away on Friday at the age of 92.

Gaboury, who has been described as “Manitoba’s greatest architect,” was “a great man,” said his son-in-law, Ibrahima Diallo, who spoke with Radio-Canada on behalf of the family on Saturday.

“Étienne Gaboury was not only an architect but he was also a human being with a lot of empathy, a lot of souls,” said Diallo, a University of St. Boniface microbiology professor who is married to Gaboury’s daughter, Lise Gaboury-Diallo, an author and University of St. Boniface literature professor.

Gaboury’s death is “a big loss for us as a family, but also it’s a big loss for Manitoba and for Canada because he has built … defining buildings” across Canada and beyond, said Diallo.

Franco-Manitoban Cultural Society

“Obviously, when you look at his architectural legacy, it’s very impressive,” Daniel Boucher, executive director of the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Society, said in an interview with Radio-Canada.

“I think we all know what a Gaboury building is.… He was really a great architect, but he was also a great person in the Franco-Manitoban community.”

Despite his fame and prominence as an architect, Gaboury remained “a humble man,” according to Boucher. He was named a member of the Order of Manitoba and the Order of Canada.

According to a 2014 interview with CBC’s Terry MacLeod, Gaboury was raised in Bruxelles, a small community in southwest Manitoba, where his parents were farmers. He was born in 1930, the youngest of 11 children.

Etienne Gaboury Age, Family, and Early Life 

Etienne Gaboury was 92 years old. He was born on the 24^th of April, 1930 in Swan Lake, Canada. He was of Canadian nationality and white ethnicity.

His parents, farmers Napoleon and Valentine Gaboury, were of French Canadian descent. Gaboury was the youngest of 11 kids in the family.

Etienne Gaboury Career, What was his Profession?

Gaboury is renowned for his regional prairie designs that combine the material, ethereal, and spiritual worlds. He was regarded as one of the most significant Canadian architects of his day and completed more than 300 buildings across the globe, including the Canadian Embassy in Mexico.

In Winnipeg, Gaboury is known for his work on the Esplanade Riel, the rebuilt Saint Boniface Cathedral, and the Royal Canadian Mint building. The Precious Blood Church in St. Boniface, Manitoba, which was built in the style of a tipi and finished in 1968, has eleven inside wood beams that come together to form a smokehole-like skylight thirty meters above the altar. As the architect of the Helen Betty Osborne Ininew Education Resource Centre (HBOIERC) in Norway House, Manitoba, Gaboury’s work in Manitoba is not just restricted to Winnipeg.

The wall around Marcien Lemay’s sculpture depicting Canadian Métis leader Louis Riel as a n*ked and suffering figure was created by Gaboury. The statue spent 23 years on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly after it was unveiled in 1970. Later, the statue was relocated to the Saint-Boniface University College campus.

Which school and college did he go to?

At the University of Manitoba, Gaboury—a distant relative of Louis Riel—studied architecture and Latin. He enrolled at the University of Manitoba in 1949, where he finished his studies in 1953 and received a BA in Latin philosophy.

After earning his architecture bachelor’s degree from the University of Manitoba, he spent 1958–1959 in Paris studying at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Etienne Gaboury Net Worth, How much does he earn?

The net worth details of Gaboury aren’t available.

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Etienne Gaboury Wife, What is his relationship?

Etienne Gaboury was a married man. However, no details about his wife are known.

Is he available on any social media platforms?

We did not find Etienne Gaboury on any social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Physical Appearance of Etienne Gaboury’s Height, Weight

Interesting facts about Etienne Gaboury’s which should be known