Densely populated settlements, and even new towns, developed in some of the former estate centres during the agrarian reform of the 1920s in the Republic of Latvia. The building plans, as well as enlargement projects for older towns, were prepared by the Land Surveys Department of the Ministry of Agriculture. A large part of this work was done by two Ministry of Agriculture employees: engineer architect, Arnold Maydell (1883-1946), a 1913 graduate of Riga Polytechnical Institute, and architect, Gothardt Vierhuff (1894-1953). This article details the life and political involvements of Arnold Maydell, based on material from archives, museums, the press, and information provided by his relatives.