MAXWELL, Andrew (1845-1922), active in southern Manitoba as an architect for nearly thirty years. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 18 June 1845, he came to Canada at a young age, and settled in Montreal, Que. where he studied engineering at McGill University and graduated in 1865. He then took up surveying work with the C.P.R. Railway in 1872, and later worked in the construction department of the Hudson’s Bay Co. In 1876 he opened an office as an architect in Portage La Prairie, Man. and was active there for at least five years (Times Printing & Pub. Co., Manitoba , Kewaydin & North-West Territory Directory, 1879, 19). He relocated to Holland, Man. in 1881 and lived and worked there for the duration of his career. An obituary article on his life, published in 1922, noted that “…Mr. Maxwell was a very capable architect, and drew the plans for several local buildings, including the Holland School, and Emmanuel Church” (The Observer [Holland], 16 Feb. 1922, 5).
In 1876 he prepared the plans for major additions and rebuilding of St. Mary’s La Prairie Church in Portage La Prairie, Man. Over the course of the next twenty five years, his name was linked to the design of several churches in small towns near Winnipeg. He was one of the founding members of the Manitoba Association of Architects, and resigned from that organization in January 1920. Maxwell died in Holland, Man. on 9 February 1922 (obit. The Observer [Holland], 16 Feb. 1922, 5; obit. Canadian Engineer [Montreal], xlii, 21 Feb. 1922, 260; Contract Record [Toronto], xxxvi, 22 Feb. 1922, 184; biog. Holland History Committee, Holland Manitoba 1877-1967, 217-18; inf. Manitoba Association of Architects; inf. Manitoba Historical Society).
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., major addition of a new chancel, vestry and organ chamber to St. Mary’s La Prairie Anglican Church, with rebuilding of the old church, 1876; demol. c. 1898 (Manitoba Daily Free Press [Winnipeg], 2 Dec. 1876, 3)
TREHERNE, MAN., Methodist Church, 1891 (Prov. Of Manitoba, A Study of the Church Buildings in Manitoba, by Neil Bingham, 1987, 226, illus.)
SWAN LAKE, MAN., Presbyterian Church, 1893; altered 1985 (Winnipeg Tribune, 17 Aug. 1893, 2, but incorrectly attributed to " A. Manvell [sic], architect of Welland [sic]; Prov. of Manitoba, A Study of the Church Buildings in Manitoba, by Neil Bingham, 1987, 220, illus. but lacking attribution)
HOLLAND, MAN., Public School, 1893 (Holland History Committee, Holland Manitoba 1877-1967, 77-78, illus.)
HOLLAND, MAN., Emmanuel Anglican Church, 1893-94 (Holland History Committee, Holland Manitoba 1877-1967, 89-90, illus.; Prov. of Manitoba, A Study of Anglican Church Buildings in Manitoba, by Kelly Crossman, 1989, 91, illus.)
BOYNE CREEK, MAN., St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, 1900; building relocated to Theherne in 1960 (Treherne Times, 9 Nov. 1900, 1; inf. Randy Rostecki, Winnipeg)