Maxwell, Herries Stirling

MAXWELL, Herries Stirling (1905-1983) was the son of Edward Maxwell, a leading architect in Montreal and in Canada at the turn of the 20th C. Born in Montreal on 3 July 1905, he was educated at Selwyn House School (in 1913-18), and at Lower Canada College (in 1918-21). His father undoubtedly had an influence on his decision to pursue a career in architecture, and in September 1923 he enrolled in the Dept. of Architecture at McGill University. Just three months later, in November 1923, his father died suddenly, leaving him to continue his education and to spend his summers working in the office of his uncle, William S. Maxwell, which had, by then, been renamed Maxwell & Pitts. After graduating from McGill in 1928, Herries S. worked full time for Maxwell & Pitts from the spring of 1929 to the autumn of 1930. The financial crash of October 1929 had a deep impact on the prospects for that office, and Herries S. made an important decision to leave his uncle’s office, and to join the Premises Dept. of the Bank of Montreal as a staff architect, and he was later promoted to Supervisor, overseeing construction and alterations of branches for the bank in cities and towns across Canada.
He was elected as an Associate of the Royal Inst. of British Architects in London, England in 1931, and continued to work as an architect until 1945 when he resigned from the Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects, and from the Ontario Assoc. of Architects. Maxwell later died in Montreal on 17 November 1983 (inf. Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects, Montreal).