The Architect Who Was Family

A retelling for children, based on The Priceless Pearl by Rúḥíyyih Khánum.

On the slope of Mount Carmel, above the sea, there stood a plain stone building that looked something like a fortress. Inside it rested the remains of the Báb.

'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself had built that Shrine, and He had looked forward to the day when a dome would rise above it.

That task came to 'Abdu'l-Bahá's grandson, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith, and he needed an architect. The person he turned to was his own father-in-law.

His name was William Sutherland Maxwell, and he was a well-known architect from Canada. His firm had built famous buildings, including the Château Frontenac, a great hotel in the city of Quebec, and the Parliament building in Regina. After his wife died, he had come to live in Haifa with his daughter and the Guardian.

Toward the end of 1942, while the Second World War was still going on, the Guardian asked Mr. Maxwell to design the new building for the Shrine. He gave him only a few instructions. It must have a dome. It must have an arcade, a row of columns and arches. It must not be purely Western or purely Eastern, and it must not look like a mosque or a church.

Mr. Maxwell drew a design. The Guardian did not like its pyramid-shaped dome. The second design looked too European. The third pleased him, all but one part near the top, and Mr. Maxwell drew sketch after sketch for weeks until that part was right too. A model of the building was shown to the Bahá'ís in 1944, when they gathered to celebrate one hundred years since the Báb declared His mission.

The real building could not be started until after the war. In 1948 there was fighting in the land, and there was neither the right stone nor enough skilled stone-carvers nearby. So the Guardian decided the stone would be cut in Italy. Mr. Maxwell flew there on one of the last planes to leave before the airport was closed. A Bahá'í named Dr. Ugo Giachery, who lived in Italy, was to look after the work there for the Guardian.

In Italy the granite columns and the carved stone were made, and shipment after shipment was carried across the sea to Haifa. Meanwhile the Guardian himself directed the digging away of the rock behind the Shrine, day after day, to make room for the new building.

Mr. Maxwell passed away in 1952 and did not see the building finished. In 1953 the work was complete, and the golden dome that 'Abdu'l-Bahá had looked forward to rose above the Shrine of the Báb.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "Designing the Shrine of the Báb".

Khánum, R.. (1969). *The Priceless Pearl*. Bahá'í Publishing Trust.