MAXWELL, William Sutherland (1874-1952)
(biography in preparation)
W.S. MAXWELL (works in Montreal)
PINE AVENUE, near McGregor Avenue, residence for the architect William S. Maxwell, 1909-11 (Canadian Collector [Toronto], xviii, May-June 1983, 18-19, illus. & descrip.; McGill Univ., Edward & W.S. Maxwell - Guide to the Archive, 1986, 257-58, Item 509, drawings)
MAXWELL & PITTS (works in Montreal)
ST. MATTHEW’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Wellington Street at Bourgeois Street, Point St. Charles, a rebuilding of the original church which burned in January 1926; completed in April 1927 (Montreal Daily Star, 14 April 1927, 20, illus. & detailed architectural descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, ix, July 1932, 170-72, illus. & descrip.)
ONTARIO AVENUE, near Pine Avenue West, residence for Percy P. Cowans, 1927 (R.A.I.C. Journal, iv, June 1927, 218, 224, illus. & descrip.; v, May 1928, 176, illus.; June 1928, 214, descrip.)
WESTMOUNT, residence for H.W. Raphael, Westmount Boulevard, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 5 Sept. 1928, 65)
DRUMMOND STREET, at McGregor Street, residence for Dr. Walter W. Chipman, 1928 (R.A.I.C. Journal, v, May 1928, 169, 181, illus.; June 1928, 214, descrip.; C.H.G., v, June 1928, 48, illus.)
PINE AVENUE WEST, at Peel Street, enlargement of the apartment for the chauffeur at the residence for Isabella B. Allan [Meredith], 1930; with interior alterations, 1932 (City of Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 29-32, illus.)
WILLOW AVENUE, residence for Max Hill, 1930 (Montreal Daily Star, 3 Jan. 1930, 3)
ST. LAMBERT UNITED CHURCH, Mercille Avenue at Desaulniers Boulevard, 1930; still standing in 2023 (C.R., xliv, 20 Aug. 1930, 90)
PROVINCE OF QUEBEC ASSOC. OF ARCHITECTS, Dorchester Street West at Union Avenue, in the old Builder’s Temple Building, a remodelling of the Meeting Hall on the Fourth Floor, including design of furniture and light fixtures, 1933 (R.A.I.C., xvi, Oct. 1939, 228)
McTAVISH STREET, near McGregor Street, addition and alterations to residence of Baron Alfred M.F. Baumgarten, 1935, and now occupied by the McGill Faculty Club (City of Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 55-58, illus.)
ROSEMOUNT STREET, a tract of 150 houses for the Consolidated Housing Co., 1941-42 (C.R., liv, 1 Oct. 1941, 29)
McGILL UNIVERSITY, Sherbrooke Street West at McGill College Avenue, major addition and alterations to the University Library, designed by Maxwell & Pitts in 1949-50, and later completed as The Redpath Library Extension, 1952-54, by McDougall, Smith & Fleming, with Gordon M. Pitts, Associate Architect; still standing in 2023 (C.R., lxii, April 1949, 153; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxix, June 1952, 178, illus.)
MAXWELL & PITTS (works elsewhere)
ST. ANDREW’S, N.B., residence for G. Horne Russell, Joe’s Point Road, 1925; still standing in 2023 (C.H.G., iv, Jan. 1927, 25, illus.; May 1927, 35, illus.; John Leroux, St. Andrew‘s Architecture 1604-1966, 2010, Item 136, illus.)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., Chateau Frontenac Hotel, rebuilding and reconstruction of the Old Wing after a fire on 14 January 1926, completed in June 1926; still standing in 2023 (Gazette [Montreal], 7 June 1926, 26, illus. & extensive architectural descrip.)
MOUNT BRUNO, QUE., residence for Lady Meredith, 1928 (C.H.G., vi, April 1929, 26-7, illus.)
ST. ANDREW’S, N.B., “Link’s Crest”, a large residence for Sir Thomas Tait, with barns, garage, stables and farmer’s residence, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 6 June 1928, 56; C.H.G., vi, Oct. 1929, 21-23, illus.; and viii, May 1931, 32-33, 35-37, 51, illus. & descrip.)
ST. ANDREW’S, N.B., residence for Robert Dodd, Champlain Road, 1930; still standing in 2023 (C.H.G., viii, Jan. 1931, 32, illus.; John Leroux, St. Andrew‘s Architecture 1604-1966, 2010, Item 127, illus.)
HAIFA, ISRAEL, Baha'i Shrine of the Bab, additions of the Rose Baveno granite colonnade, the Chiampo stone arches, and the golden dome and drum, 1949-53 (McGill Univ., Edward & W.S. Maxwell - Guide to the Archive, 1986, 16-17, descrip.; Baha’i World News Service, 12 Oct. 2003, illus. & descrip. [online]).
COMPETITIONS
WILMETTE, ILLINOIS, USA, The Bahai Temple, 1910. Maxwell was among at least eight architects from Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, Washington and Montreal who submitted a design in the competition for the new Temple building (U.S. Bahai, Archives, Meeting of the Temple Executive Committee, 25-26 April 1910, list of competitors). The design by Maxwell was not premiated. An elevation of the design by Maxwell appears in Bruce W. Whitmore, The Dawning Place - The Building of a Temple, 1984, 88-89, & 91, illus.
MONTREAL, QUE., Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul, Sherbrooke Street West at Redpath Street, 1929. The firm of Maxwell & Pitts was one of twelve Montreal architectural offices invited to submit an entry (R.A.I.C. Journal, vi, Dec. 1929, 442-3, illus.; inf. Scott Edwards). The design by Maxwell & Pitts was set aside in favour of the modern Gothic design by Harold L. Fetherstonhaugh, who was declared the winner.
Selected Essays by William S. Maxwell
“Architectural Education”, in C.A.B., xxi, Jan. 1908, 21-25, text; and Construction [Toronto], i, Feb. 1908, 49-52, text;
“The Louis XV Style”, an essay in praise of this French architectural style, delivered to the Sketch Club of the P.Q.A.A. in Montreal, in C.A.B., xix, March 1906, 42, text.;
“Exhibition of Drawings, Decorations and Sculpture Representing the Work of Canadian and American Universities and Schools” in the R.A.I.C. Journal, vii, March 1930, 77-86, illus. & text;
“The Illustrated Book of France - a Modern Renaissance”, a lecture delivered to the Arts & Letters Club of Montreal, with illustrations from the 16th C. to the Present, and noted in the R.A.I.C. Journal, x, Feb. 1933, 44., with lecture repeated in March 1933 to the Independent Art Association, April 1933, 80;
“Souvenirs de Voyage - Europe 1935” in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, June 1935, 110-16, illus. & text;
“Public Buildings Should Be Designed By Architects in Private Practise” , an open letter from W.S. Maxwell to Prime Minister Mackenzie King, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, Feb. 1936, 34, text;
“Pavilion of the Manufacturers Ceramique d’Hemixem at the Brussels Exhibition”, a critique by W.S. Maxwell in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, Oct. 1936, 190-91, illus. & text;
“How the Decorator Can Help the Architect”, in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, March 1936, 59, text;
Lecture on the recent trip to Europe and Palestine by W.S. Maxwell, delivered to the Arts Club of Montreal, in R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, January 1938, 295, text;