Robert Maxwell (1922-2020) was born in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. Educated at Down High School (1933 to 1940) went on to receive a degree of BArch (Hons) and a Diploma of Civic Design at the University of Liverpool, graduating in 1949. During the second World War he volunteered for the British Army (1944 to 1947) in the hope of getting to see the baroque churches of southern Germany, as part of the army of occupation. Unexpectedly he was posted to India, sent on his way to fight the Japanese. He was saved from this fate by President Truman’s use of the atom bomb. At the end of three years, ended up as Captain Maxwell, greatly enjoying his life in India.
Returning to the United Kingdom Maxwell also enjoyed his remaining time at Liverpool, where met Colin Rowe, James Stirling and Douglas Stephen. He joined the faculty at the Architectural Association (1958 to 1962) while working as an architect in London, in 1962 completing the Kirke house in Kennington Park Road. He then joined the London County Council Architect’s Department, where he worked on the Royal Festival Hall extensions. Later, as a Partner in Douglas Stephen & Partners, he participated in the design of the Brunel Centre, Swindon and apartments at Highgate. In London he became a Year Master at the Architectural Association (1958 to 1962) before joining the Faculty of the Bartlett School, University College London, where he taught for twenty years (Senior Lecturer, Reader, Professor); after four stints at Princeton as Visiting Professor, he was appointed there as Dean of Architecture, (from 1982) and remained there for eleven years.
In 1993, he was invited to teach the History of Modern Architecture at the Architectural Association (1994 to 2006). After retiring in 2006, he continued to give lectures abroad as well as at home, visiting Colombia, India, Japan, Slovenia, Czech Republic, as well as France, Germany, Italy and Greece. Maxwell also lectured at the Royal Academy where took part in a group known as 'Architectural Forum', bringing a greater knowledge of architecture to that institution.
Robert Maxwell’s archive is now held at The University of Liverpool Special Collection
Books
Robert Maxwell, The Time of my life, in Architecture, Artifice, London, 2016.
----- Ancient Wisdom and Modern Knowhow, Artifice, London, 2013.
----- A Few Years of Writing: Interspersed with Some Facts of life, Artifice, London, 2012.
----- The Work of Stirling-Wilford, Birkhauser Verlag, Zurich, 1998
----- ed., The Writings of James Stirling, Skira Editore, Milan, 1998
----- The Two Way Stretch: Modernism, Tradition and Innovation in the Polemics Series, Academy Editions, London, 1996
----- Sweet Disorder and the Carefully Careless: Theory and Criticism in Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1994
----- Pamphlet: The Two Theories of Architecture: text of inaugural lecture, University College London, 1980.
----- New British Architecture, Thames & Hudson, London, 1972