| EDWARD MAXWELL | CAC Accession No: 2 |
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DESCRIPTION Drawings, photographs, professional and personal correspondence and other papers recording the activities of Montreal architects Edward Maxwell (1867-1923) and William Sutherland Maxwell (1874-1952, see CAC 2.02), and their associates. Others papers include office records, daily journal, measurement books, scrap-books, a preliminary index to the Maxwell archive and biographical material. The Maxwell archive spans the full history of one of Canada's largest and most influential architectural firms, beginning in 1892 when Edward Maxwell first started his private practice in Montreal. Edward had apprenticed with Alexander Francis Dunlop (1843-1923, see CAC 16) and later with Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, H.H. Richardson's old firm. This training lent Edward's work a distinctive Richardsonian character, mixed with late Victorian eclecticism, that is well-illustrated in his designs for buildings in Montreal and across the rest of Canada. Edward made his mark designing homes for the wealthy residents of Montreal's Square Mile, as well as commercial establishments, churches and civic and cultural buildings. In 1899 George C. Shattuck (1864-1923, see CAC 2.01) came from Boston to help Edward conduct business when the practice became busy. Shattuck's participation in the firm was brief (ending in 1901). However, it was during this time that Edward undertook one of his most important projects, the additions and alterations to Windsor Station for the Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal. The firm's most fertile period began when William replaced Shattuck as Edward's partner in 1902, and continued until the elder brother's death. William's Beaux-Arts training and proclivity for strongly decorative designs gave the Maxwells' designs increased vitality. The brothers continued to build in Montreal, although their greatest commissions took them elsewhere: to Quebec City for the additions to the Chateau Frontenac and to Regina for the design of the Saskatchewan Leg
islative Building. The last phase of the firm's existence began after Edward's death when New Brunswick-born Gordon MacLeod Pitts (1886 - 1954, see CAC 2.03), a member of the Maxwell firm from 1919, became a partner. The firm executed projects as Maxwell and Pitts until William retired in 1939. For further information please consult the CAC publication, Edward and W.S. Maxwell: Guide to the Archive = Edward et W. S. Maxwell : guide du fonds. Montreal: Canadian Architecture Collection, Blackader-Lauterman Library of Architecture and Art, McGill University, 1986. Also see The Architecture of Edward and W.S. Maxwell. Exhibition catalogue. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1991, The Libraries of Edward and W. S. Maxwell in the Collection of the Blackader-Lauterman Library of Architecture and Art, McGill University = Les bibliothèques de Edward et W.S. Maxwell dans les collections de la Bibliothèque Blackader-Lauterman d'architecture et d'art, Université McGill. Montreal: Blackader-Lauterman Library of Architecture and Art, McGill University, 1991 and Rosalind M. Pepall. Construction d'un musée Beaux-Arts : Montreal 1912 = Building a Beaux-Arts Museum Montreal 1912. Montreal: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1986. Ellen Aitchison, wife of Edward Maxwell, donated most of the material in the Maxwell archive in 1954 when her husband's office was dismantled following the death of Gordon Pitts. Subsequent donations were made by other Maxwell family members: Madame Mary Maxwell Rabbani, Mrs. H. Stirling Maxwell and Henry Yates, and by Mary MacPherson, daughter of Gordon Pitts. This material is organized and documented in Edward and W.S. Maxwell: A Guide to the Archive (1986). Further donations were made to the archive after the publication of the above-cited guide between 1986 and 1991 by Mary Maxwell Rabbani, Hugh Locke, Henry Yates and Robert Coppenrath and Associates. This later material has not been organized. *Note: Unorganized material is not included in this outline.
Architectural Drawings, 1890-1951, 16,235 drawings. This is the total sum of architectural drawings for all four phases of the firm's existence which sub-divides chronologically and by firm, as follows: Photographs, 1863-1986, 1.04 m, 91 file folders and I album, 746 photographs including 45 negatives and 99 silver prints of houses, monuments and other buildings designed by Edward and W.S. Maxwell and their associates. Included with these are 269 photographs taken by Professor John Bland and others. Architectural Operations, 1895-1984, 0.26 m, 62 file folders; manuscripts, typescripts, clippings and correspondence relating to projects undertaken by the Maxwell firm. Office Records, 1892-1951, 0.65 m, 15 vols. These items record the activities of the Maxwell firm. They include: Two photoalbums (W.S. Maxwell, Boston office) 1 female nude sketch (W.S. Maxwell, 1899 ?) Daily Journal, 1892, 1 vol.; This 196-page journal covers Edward Maxwell's professional and personal activities as well as daily expenses for 1892 when he was superintending the Montreal Board of Trade Building (1891-3); in addition, the journal includes notes on other professional building work. Measurement books, 1898-1912, 6 vols.: for Edward Maxwell and Edward and W.S. Maxwell. Scrap-books, 1894-1914, 2 vols.: includes plans of early Maxwell houses.
Maxwell and Shattuck | |