Architect Kalman, 100, recognized by McGill
By JANICE ARNOLD
Staff Reporter
MONTREAL - Starting a career in architecture just when the Depression
hits is not the best timing, yet Maxwell Kalman managed to overcome
early bad luck to become one of the busiest members of his profession in
Montreal.
We’re not talking about the recession that began in 1989, but the Great
Depression of 1929. Over 35 years, Kalman completed more than 1,000
projects, the majority of them residential, from luxury houses to
walk-up flats to middle-class duplexes, in styles ranging from
traditional to innovative.
Kalman, who turned 100 on May 30, is the oldest living graduate of
McGill University’s school of architecture, earning his degree in 1931.
He was feted by McGill, his friends and large extended family at the
school of architecture on his birthday.
Kalman came from a modest background and got through university on
scholarships and bursaries. He worked – for no pay – for five summers,
moving up from office boy to draftsman at Ross and Macdonald, with the
ambition of getting a position with the prestigious architectural firm
when he graduated.
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