Architect and community figure Marcel Beaudin dies - a look at his legacy in Burlington

Whether you're walking along Pearl Street, down Main Street or wandering the waterfront, there's a chance you can look around and see Marcel Beaudin's work. From family homes to public buildings, Beaudin has decades of architectural design lining the streets of Burlington, including cofounding and designing the new Burlington Community Sailing Center.

Beaudin died Friday, March 29, 2024, at the age of 95. The time since has been a retrospective for his family, business partners, friends and the community. For those who may have never heard his name before, they have likely seen his work without even knowing it. While he was described as a humble man who worked for the love of his community and not the recognition, it's hard to look back on his prolific catalogue of work without admiration.

His children certainly do, as his middle daughter Rebecca Beaudin and youngest son Jeb Beaudin recounted their father's life from early age to his later years.

Early life

Beaudin was born in Barre in 1929, the oldest of four children, according to his obituary and children. Rebecca remembers him recalling his parents as hardworking, blue-collar Vermonters (after moving to the United States from Sherbrooke, Quebec): his father Armand was a stonecutter, and his mother Eva was a seamstress.

After graduating from Spaulding High School, he followed that interest to the city, working as a junior designer of tombstones and mausoleums, merging his interest of design with his family legacy. Beaudin’s interest in architecture was born from a chance encounter with Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier at his studio in New York City. Rebecca and Jeb both said that this meeting with Corbusier changed their father's trajectory, leading him to pursue architecture in his education.

Not long after, he enrolled at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. From there, his career took off. He had an eye for design, winning many awards during his time at the college.

During his time in the city, he met his first wife, Vera. They married in 1948 and in the following years moved back to the Green Mountain state to raise a family.

Life in Vermont

Beaudin built a home of his own design on Shelburne Point, one that held him, Vera and their five children.

The house just barely fit the entire family, recalls his daughter Rebecca Beaudin. She said that the home had only three bedrooms, “so it was a little tight, but it was really cool.”

She described her childhood home as “remarkable,” with big windows facing the Adirondack Mountain sunset, and a big balcony, which, much to her mother’s chagrin, was on a 40-foot cliff with no fence.

“My mother would say, ‘Well, your dad said that if they survived this, they will survive anything,'" Rebecca said. “And you know, we did.”

It was home until Rebecca – who most often goes by Becky – was 12, and the family moved to Main Street in Burlington, across from the University of Vermont campus.

A prolific career

Beaudin’s career was taking off at the same time he was raising a family, something that seemed to be a challenging balance.

“He was very thoughtful, civically thoughtful, and deeply committed to the planning of the city, particularly the waterfront,” Rebecca said. “He was so focused that when I was a kid and wanted attention, I had no shot. If he was working, my hair could have been on fire, but he had this one thing to focus on.”

Rebecca said this sentiment with warmth in her tone, looking on this quality of her father with admiration.

A retrospective catalogue of his work was published in 2005, with photographs by Gary Hall and curated by Jessica Dyer, who spent hours with Beaudin. This book recounts that Beaudin began his private architectural practice, Beaudin and Associates, in Burlington in the late 1950s and practiced for almost 70 years. Beaudin’s work is integrated throughout the streets of Burlington and beyond. He did commercial projects − like the Community Boathouse − along with residential commissions, public buildings and places of worship all throughout Vermont.

Beaudin is estimated to have finished about 2,000 projects, according to an interview between him and Seven Days in 2020. Different locations and projects would pop up during the conversation with Rebecca and her youngest brother Jeb, as talking about Beaudin was setting off their memories of strong images of blue glass windows and sharp angles.

One of his most notable projects came later in his life and has been described as one of his "proudest" projects by Rebecca and Owen Milne, with whom he worked closely during the project: the creation of the Burlington Community Sailing Center. Beaudin cofounded the center in 1994 at the old Moran Plant on the Burlington waterfront. They were able to build a new, state-of-the-art building, designed by Beaudin, in 2018. Beaudin was an avid sailor, a passion that was able to be fulfilled with a life lived in close proximity to Lake Champlain.

"Sailboat racing became a family mission, and he competed with his close friends and his sons regularly on both Lake Champlain and in regattas from Newport to Key West," Rebecca said. "His proudest competitive sailing achievement was setting the record for the most victories in the Lake Champlain Yacht Club Ladies Cup Race, with a total of six wins, always with at least one of his sons on board."

Now executive director of the center, Milne said that while Beaudin wasn't as involved in the past seven years, he still had an active interest. That continued even in his last few months.

"There really hasn't been a week that went by without a phone call from Marcel checking in, offering creative ideas and support on how to keep moving his vision forward," Milne said. "It was more than just a phone call. He was regularly advocating on our behalf."

Advocating for his community seemed to be an important part of Marcel's character that he didn't want credit for. Rebecca said Beaudin took on other good works because they “needed doing.” A recent example is his involvement as a consulting architect for the Lost Mural Project, saving a hidden artwork from destruction. He contributed to engineering the moving and installation of the restored mural in the lobby of Burlington’s Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, which has become a Burlington landmark.

A “big event” at the sailing center is in the works for Aug. 2. More information will come out closer to that date.

Sydney P. Hakes is the Burlington city reporter. Contact her at SHakes@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Burlington Community Sailing cofounder, architect Marcel Beaudin dies