1937 May & Sutherland Maxwell

William Sutherland and May Bolles Maxwell

William Sutherland Maxwell (b. November 14, 1874 – March, 1952) was a well-known Canadian architect and a Hand of the Cause in the Bahá'í Faith. He was born in Montreal, Canada to parents Edward John Maxwell and Johan MacBean.

In 1902 he became a partner in his brother's firm. During his time with the firm, the firm won contracts to design the Commissions for the Nurses Home of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, the Saskatchewan Legislative Buildings, the Art Association of Montreal (renamed the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), and the Departmental and Courts Buildings Ottawa in 1907 (unexecuted).

In 1891? he was accepted in the new association of architects. He designed the Board of Trade Building in Montreal, and the Saint-Louis, and Riverview wings of the Château Frontenac in Quebec City when it was expanded, and the new art gallery in Montreal. Among the many other designs, he also designed important hotels for the Canadian Pacific Railway adjoining their existing stations in Winnipeg and Calgary.

In Paris Maxwell had met Mason Remey and Randolph Bolles who introduced him to the Bahá'í Faith. Later Maxwell married Bolles' sister May Ellis Bolles in London on 8 May 1902, and became a Bahá'í in 1909, after meeting `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. The Maxwell's home in Montreal became a centre of Bahá'í activity in Canada, and in 1912 `Abdu'l-Bahá visited their home. The Maxwells would frequently visit the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa, Palestine (current day Israel).

In 1937 the Maxwell's daughter, Mary Maxwell, married Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. After Mrs. Maxwell's death in 1940, Mr. Maxwell left to Haifa, where he remained throughout the Second World War. While in Haifa he designed the arcade and superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb, one of the holiest places for members of the Bahá'í Faith.

For this work and for his long devotion to the Bahá'í Faith he was recognized as a Hand of the Cause of God by Shoghi Effendi in December 1951. After his death in 1952 the south door of the Shrine of the Báb was named after him. William Maxwell had returned to Montreal the year before he died and he was buried 29 March 1952 in Mount Royal Cemetery.

Watercolor of proposed Shrine of the Báb by William S. Maxwell

Photo by G. Cameron

'Amatu'l-Baha' Ruhiyyih Khanum with her father William Sutherland Maxwell in England, 1948