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quadrex
< Canadian French
especially Quebec
DCHP-3 (Nov 2024)
Spelling variants:Quadrex
Quadrex has been a popular name for a wide range of entities. From financial and brokerage companies, which flood the result lists as of the early 1980s in Canadian English database, to screens in clay production or radiology (1930s to 1950s, North America wide). The use as a common noun for a type of housing appears to be initially dominant in Canadian French, especially in Quebec; recent uses in Canadian English are transfers from Quebec French.
1n. — Housing
a building separated into four residences; fourplex.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — In the early 1960s, while English was still a dominant business language in Quebec, the term quadrex appears to have been a neologism that competed with quadruplex in the Rest of Canada. In Quebec, quadrex became institutionalized, likely supported by the switch to French in business and society in the 1970s, while quadruplex became the anglophone term. As shown in Charts 1 and 2, the term is predominately used in Canada, though the Canadian usage is de facto driven by usage in the province of Quebec (see Chart 2). See the 1938 quotation for an early use in Victoria, BC, possibly as an independent neologism (four units in one house).
The term is not listed in OED-3.
The term is not listed in OED-3.
See: quadruplex
Quotations
1938
A new type of construction, a "quadrex," a four-family dwelling similar to a double duplex will make its appearance in Victoria shortly.
1960
The construction of four-four apartment houses, known as "Quadrex" homes, was approved by the council. Each of the four apartments in the houses have several on the second floor and each has two sentences.
1961
PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that By-Law No. 1085 of the City of Sherbrooke, amending zoning By-Law No. 1071 and authorizing the construction of quadrex style houses in zone A-36 [...]
1988
[Le secteur va continuer à se developper grâce à des contracteurs indépendants; de plus il y a prolongation car le secteur des "quadrex" (quatre propriétés dans le même imeuble) s'érige sur la rue Joliet.]
2001
[Vendeur motivé, faut vendre quadrex, secteur Du Barry, Gatineau, $431/mois, possession rapide.]
2023
[Roger Lachapelle, propriétaire de DuBarry Construction, se souvient bien de l'époque. C'était vers 1971. Il avait rencontré un architecte de Montréal qui avait construit deux structures de type « quadrex » (quatre logements, chacun occupant un quart d'une structure carrée) dans la petite ville de Charlemagne. « C'était révolutionnaire, dit-il. On pouvait, avec ce design, installer les services (égouts, aqueduc) à toutes les deux rues. » [Roger Lachapelle, owner of DuBarry Construction, remembers the time well. It was around 1971. He had met a Montreal architect who had built two "quadrex" structures (four dwellings, each occupying a quarter of a square structure) in the small town of Charlemagne. "It was revolutionary," he says. "With this design, you could install services (sewers, water) on every other street."]]
2024
Quadrex completely renovated with thermo-plastic kitchen cabinets and solid surface Corian countertops with dining place. [Townhouse, No. 986317, 11 km from Parliament Hill]
References
- OED-3
Images
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 7 Jan. 2025
