| History | Max was born in 1917 and he attended the Westbourne Park Primary School. His education at the Goodwood Technical School was interrupted after only two years by the Depression. Max did a course in 'Practical Building - Supervisory Management' which gave him an Unrestricted Builder's License. Later he did a two-year course in architecture through the International Correspondence School (South Australia). This was schooling by correspondence for those people who had been unable to finish their education due to the Depression or World War II. The standards they set were very high but Max excelled in his work with them despite having to earn a living at the same time.
During WW2 (1940-1944) he worked in the drawing office at General Motors Holdens, to become a staff Senior of the section involved. After the War, in 1944, he began work as a builder. He worked on jobs in Adelaide suburban and in rural areas of South Australia.
In 1954 he was employed as an Earthquake Assessor by the London Insurance Co (Adelaide) and made all decisions re assessment on any claims lodged. In 1955 he answered an advertisement for the manager of the Adelaide office for Frank Humphreys who was an architect in Melbourne setting up a print media service to home builders around Australia through The Women's Weekly Home Plans Service based at Grace Bros, Broadway, NSW. Out of 55 people who applied, Max got the job. Mail Order plans were sold as 'standard' (as presented in the booklets or the papers), to a client's own design, or modified to suit any block or location.
By 1957 he was writing for the print media (Sunday newspapers) throughout Australia on building repairs and answering queries from the Australian public. He continued with this until mid 2001. He found the Western Australia Sunday Times Weekly papers went everywhere and his plans were copied in Kuala Lumpur, New Zealand, Germany, Britain and other countries.
During 1957-1962 he had an office in John Martins from which he was able to operate an advice service for home builders. At this time he published seven books to assist home builders and employed architects and draughtsmen to assist him. The architects were young students who needed to fulfill a practical aspect of the architectural course. Four of them he felt were outstanding. They were Jessica Langhorn, Ross Bateup, Phil Bamforth and Phil Broehm. Others were given practical architectural work to assist them in their final year of studies.
From 1963 to 1973 Max had an office in Myers, Rundle Street, having moved from John Martins. From here he ran the Myer Home Plan Service, giving advice to ordinary South Australians who couldn't necessarily afford the services of an architect. Max was then the Proprietor/Manager of this operation throughout Australia, but was based in Adelaide. In 1967 he opened his own building consultant's office in Gawler Place, Adelaide and employed other architects and draftsmen to continue the service to the public. From 1970 to 1990 Max had offices in Rundle Street and later at 196 North Terrace.
He semi-retired in 1990 but in 2001 still writes for the Sunday Mail and Advertiser and still does site inspections at the age of 83. Max has embraced the new media with offers of free advice to the public through his two sites on the web.
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