MAXWELL, John (1803-1889) of Paris, Ont. was registered as a Provincial Land Surveyor on 23 January 1849 and later advertised himself as a surveyor and architect in Hamilton (Spectator [Hamilton], 29 Sept. 1849, 3, advert.). In 1853 he designed the Town Hall in Paris, an early and exceptional example of a public building in Ontario designed in the Gothic Revival style normally associated with ecclesiastical works. In 1857 he prepared plans for the Roman Catholic Church in Paris, 1857, 'in the late Decorated style', to which John Turner added a major extension in 1881. By 1865 Maxwell had confined his activity to that of surveying. Born in Kilmadock, Co. Perth, Scotland on 29 May 1803, he emigrated to Canada in 1833 and settled n Guelph, Ont., then moved to nearby Brantford in 1836. During the period of 1840-44 he was active as a builder, in partnership with Mr. Houlding, but their collaboration ended in 1844 and Maxwell continued to work as a surveyor and architect until c. 1860. He died in Brantford on 28 August 1889 (obituary Daily Expositor (Brantford), 29 Aug. 1889, 3).
PARIS, ONT., Town Hall, Church Street at Dumfries Street, 1853-54; still standing in 2023 (County of Brant Gazetteer & Directory, 1865-66, 136; M. MacRae & A. Adamson, Cornerstones of Order, 1983, 168-9, illus. & descrip.; M. Thurlby 'Parisian Gothic': Interpretations of Gothic in Three Victorian Buildings in Paris, Ontario' in Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, xxxiv, No. 1, Spring 2009, 22-8, illus.); Parks Canada, Canada's Historic Sites, designation Statement January 2020)
PARIS, ONT., Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Main Street at Washington Street, 1857; still standing in 2023 (Mirror [Toronto], 15 Jan. 1858, 3, descrip.; M. Thurlby 'Parisian Gothic': Interpretations of Gothic in Three Victorian Buildings in Paris, Ontario' in Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, xxxiv, No. 1, Spring 2009, 28-30, illus.)
PARIS, ONT., Union School, 1858; demol. 1952 (Brant Expositor [Brantford], 13 Aug. 1858, 2, descrip.; dwgs. Paris Museum & Archives, Acc. 1999.2637.01; inf. Prof. Malcolm Thurlby, Toronto)