Louis Bourgeois (architect)
Louis Bourgeois (March 19, 1856 – August 20, 1930) was a Canadian architect who worked in Canada and the United States. He is best known for designing the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois.
Born in St. Célestin de Nicolet, Quebec, Bourgeois started as a clerk in a church contractor’s office. Because his wife’s medical bills left him in debt, he moved to Montreal to work as an apprentice sculptor for Napoléon Bourassa. Bourassa sent him to Paris to study sculpture with Louis Philippe Hébert, but Bourgeois left his studies and traveled to several countries before returning to North America in 1896.
Back in the United States, he worked in Chicago with the innovative architect Louis Sullivan, then moved to California. In Hollywood he designed the Paul de Longpré Residence in the Mission Revival style and created an art gallery and gardens there. He taught French to de Longpré’s daughters and married Alice, one of them.
In 1922 Bourgeois, along with Francis E. Dunlap and Charles L. Morgan, entered the Tribune Tower design competition and received an honorable mention.
By the winter of 1906, Bourgeois and his wife had joined the Bahá’í Faith. He supported the Bahá’í view of the unity of religions and helped grow Bahá’í communities in New York and New Jersey.
His most famous project was the Wilmette Bahá’í House of Worship near Chicago. He sent a design to Abdu'l-Bahá, and in 1920 his nine-sided plan was chosen. Construction began in 1921, and the Foundation Hall opened in 1922. Bourgeois spent the rest of the 1920s working on the project and financing it despite illness. He died on August 20, 1930, at age 74. The temple was completed and dedicated in 1953.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:49 (CET).