A (largely) unknown 40 year old minor masterpiece on the Canadian prairies: Our Lady of the Prairies Abbey, Holland Manitoba, Jacques Collin Architect

An inventive, but little known Trappist Abbey (monastery) in rural Manitoba from 1978 by French born architect and U of Manitoba professor, Jacques Collin (1927-2000).

If it has any reputation, it is (the misconception) that it is somehow derived from le Corbusier’s La Tourette. Arguably, as much J-N L Durand as it is Corb (and more Villa Stein than La Tourette), most significantly, it draws on mediaeval monastic models and local agricultural building types: barns, grain elevators and sheds - and employs ordinary, local construction materials and techniques - for symbolic as much as practical purposes - to root the building firmly in its (French) Canadian prairie context.

Had it been built in Guelph or an hour outside Montréal or Vancouver, it may well have been part of the post-war Canadian architectural canon.