ROTH, Max Wolfe (1913-2001), active in Montreal, Que for his entire career, was born there on 24 December 1913 and was raised in Cornwall, Ontario and later studied architecture at McGill University from 1933 to 1937. He was among a group of young architects who explored the moderne and Art Deco style before WWII, and his first significant commission from this period was the Jewish People's School, Waverley Street at Fairmount Avenue in north-end Montreal (Gazette [Monreal], 13 July 1940, 18, illus. & descrip.). The project was designed in collaboration with Reuben Fisher.
Roth is best known for his plans of commercial, industrial and residential projects in the Montreal, and he is reputed to have designed more than 1,500 buildings during his career which spanned nearly 60 years. These included The Garden of the Stars at EXPO '67, and nearly all of Steinberg Food Stores built in Quebec province during the post WWII era. He also worked for the rival Dominion Stores food chain, and designed a number of modernist buildings for them. The Steinberg family residence on Sunnyside Avenue in Westmount was also designed by Roth, along with over 30 private houses on the slopes of Mount Royal for various private clients. Roth died in Montreal on 1 April 2001 (obituary with port. Gazette [Montreal], 3 April 2001, p. 4). The Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal holds a collection of over 7,000 original architectural drawings prepared by Roth from 1937 to 2000, along with nearly 300 photographs of completed projects (CCA, Acc. AP 125).
(works in Montreal unless noted)
McGILL UNIVERSITY, theatre stage sets for the production of “A Sleeping Clergyman”, for the McGill Players' Club, at Strathcona Hall, 1939 (Gazette [Montreal], 3 March 1939, 11)
(with Reuben Fisher) JEWISH PEOPLE'S SCHOOL, Waverley Street at Fairmount Avenue, 1940-41 (Gazette [Montreal], 13 July 1940, 18, illus. & descrip.)
NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE, Clark Street, a community centre, 1946 (C.R., lix, Sept. 1946, 144)
HARRIS BAKERIES LTD., a large bakery factory, 1947-48 (Financial Post, 20 Sept. 1947, 11)
LANCO LTD., Rouen Street at Aird Street, large factory, 1948 (C.R., lxi, May 1948, 178; Financial Post, 3 July 1948, 3)
QUEBEC ENTERPRISES LTD., factory, 1949 (C.R., lxii, Feb. 1949, 154)
ST. JOSEPH DE ST. HYACINTHE, QUE., large factory complex for Consolidated Silks & Textiles Ltd., 1950-51 (C.R., lxiii, Feb. 1950, 134; July 1950, 128)
DOMINION GARTER CO., Iberville Street at Holt Street, 1949-50 (Financial Post, 19 Nov. 1949, 14; Architecture Batiment Construction, v, March 1950, 23)
FINE CHILDREN'S WEAR STORE, St. Laurent Boulevard, 1950 (Architecture Batiment Construction, v, March 1950, 23, illus.)
TIP TOP TAILORS STORE, 1952 (Canadian Building [Toronto], I, Aug. 1952, 26-27, illus. & descrip.)
GRANBY, QUE., Burlington Mills Ltd., 1953 (Canadian Building [Toronto], iii, July 1953, 21, illus.)
PAPERMAN & SONS FUNERAL HOME, 1953 (Architecture Batiment Construction, viii, Dec. 1953, 22-24, illus.)
STEINBERG'S SUPERMARKET, Ste. Catherine Street West at Morgan Boulevard, 1955 (Architecture Batiment Construction, x, Nov. 1955, 36, illus.)
SHERBROOKE, QUE., Steinberg's Supermarket, 1955 (Canadian Architect, i, Nov.-Dec 1955, 33-36, illus.)
LEO M. ADLER CO., office building, 1956 (Architecture Batiment Construction, xi, Dec. 1956, 34-6, illus. & descrip.)
BETH-EL SYNAGOGUE, 1957 (Architecture Batiment Construction, xii, Aug. 1957, 30-33, illus. & descrip.)
PROFESSIONAL CENTRE, office building, 1958 (Architecture Batiment Construction, xiii, March 1958, 48-51)
STEINBERG'S SUPERMARKET, 1961 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxviii, March 1961, 42, 52, illus.)
DOMINION LOCK CO., major addition to factory, 1961 (Architecture Batiment Construction, xvi, June 1961, 34-36, illus. & descrip.)
(with Eliasoph & Berkowitz) CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS, office block, 1962 (Canadian Architect, vii, Jan. 1962, 7, illus. & descrip.)
RUBY FOO'S MOTOR HOTEL, 1962 (Canadian Architect, vii, Oct. 1962, 56-61, illus. & descrip.)
EXPO '67, Garden of the Stars, 1966-67 (Canadian Architect, xi, Oct. 1966, 63, illus. & descrip)
EXPO '67, interiors and chapel for the Pavilion of Judaism, 1967 (Gazette [Montreal], 8 April 2001, 18, with correction by Harry Stilman) .