Historical Stories Compiled from the AIArchitect Weekly Newsletter

A Beginning, 1857-1866
A fledgling profession survives the Civil War by forming a community of architects

They shared a passion for architecture, those 49 men who founded The American Institute of Architects. All were architects, learned, successful, and well known. For decades they had talked about an organization of architects and had tried twice to organize. MORE

Richard Upjohn: The Foundation of the Institute

The history of The American Institute of Architects begins with an invitation from Richard Upjohn, architect of Trinity Church in New York City and one of the most famous church architects of his time. He asked his colleagues from the city to gather in his office on February 23, 1857. In response, 12 architects joined Upjohn in the Trinity Building to form the organization that would bring prominence to and profoundly change the profession of architecture in the United States. MORE

The Second Decade, 1867-1876
The Community of Architects moves to educate itself and the public

The AIA's first decade was a heady one, as architects, first from New York City and then from further afield, came together to look at their obligations-as architects, to clients-and then at how they might make the public (and each other) aware of those obligations. Architects from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the Northeast soon joined. The second decade also brought members from Illinois and Ohio in the Midwest, and from as far south as South Carolina. MORE

Beginning Chapters: The Birth of the AIA Family

With the national community of architects of the Institute newly established in 1857, it was "only a matter of time before individual practitioners would gravitate into nuclei with aims resembling those of the Institute," writes Henry H. Saylor, FAIA, in his history of the AIA's first 100 years. The New York Chapter was established first in 1867 with, Saylor writes, "a personality of its own, a meeting place and, of course, a library." Almost 150 years later, more than 300 state organizations and local chapters represent the AIA family. MORE

1877-1886-Westward and Upward

The AIA's first organizational decade, 1857-66, was truncated by four years of Civil War into a decade of six years. Yet, during those missing four years, one of the AIA's founding architects, Thomas U. Walter, completed his design and construction of the iconic U.S. Capitol dome, which symbolized then, and now, the supremacy of the Union. MORE

1887-1896: A Decade of Outreach, Inclusiveness, and Internationalism

Although architects from all parts of the country joined the Institute and there were chapters from New England to the West Coast by 1887, not all architects were comfortable with the New York City-based organization. Midwesterners especially were under-represented in membership and leadership positions within the AIA. Not well known to the Easterners, they were likely to be admitted by AIA trustees as Associate members, though after they had proven themselves, they might be advanced to Fellow. MORE

UAW President Bathed in Applause at the AIA Centennial Convention

In the spirit of celebration and with great expectancy, members of the AIA gathered for their Centennial Convention at the Sheraton Park Hotel in the leafy Woodley Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the spring of 1957, and the occasion couldn't have been more auspicious. Membership in the Institute had been surging since WWII, and the construction industry was booming throughout the U.S. Architects had plenty of work and the Institute's coffers were full. There was much to honor in the Institute's illustrious past, and the future looked bright. MORE

1897-1906: The AIA Moves to and Changes Washington
Octagon acquired, publications begun, friends in the White House established

The 1896 AIA Convention decided that it was finally time to answer the question of where the permanent headquarters of the Institute should be, and delegates chose Washington, D.C. The U.S. government was the largest single builder in America, and Washington was where legislators who controlled federal funding sat. It was also the headquarters city for many other national organizations with which architects shared common interests. Whether the AIA should partner with an organization, such as the Smithsonian, or establish independent headquarters was still to be decided. MORE

Women and Women Architects in the 1890s
Architects Louise B. Bethune and Sophia G. Hayden, and the likes of Mrs. Potter Palmer

At the 1892-93 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, something that had not been done before at any world's fair was planned. There would be a building devoted solely to women. All buildings were to be designed by architects, and Daniel Burnham, the exposition's chief of construction, sought the best known American architects as designers. He would have known Louise Bethune, FAIA, a woman architect, and member of the AIA. She was clearly capable of designing the Woman's Building-she had, after all, designed schools, a hotel, a police station, a baseball field, and other buildings in Buffalo, where her architecture office was located-but was not nationally known. Burnham may have had her in mind, may even have offered her the job. If so, she refused and he ordered a competition among American women architects for the design of the building. (Larson, Eric, Devil in the White City, p. 120.) MORE

1909-1917: The Institute Comes of Age in the Nation's Capital

As the Teddy Roosevelt era segued into the Taft and then Wilson administrations, the AIA found itself in the enviable position of advisor in the formation of a federal council of fine arts, and selection of the Lincoln Memorial and its site. During this Golden Age, the AIA held its first West Coast convention, approached a membership of 1,000, and inaugurated a feisty new Journal that took whacks at U.S. public buildings policy right on its cover. And, sadly, the Institute mourned the loss of one its most prestigious members just before he was to receive the AIA's second Gold Medal. MORE

At 50, the AIA Conceives the Gold Medal, Receives Roosevelt’s Gratitude

The AIA, born on February 23, would be 50 in 1907, and there would be a party. The engraved invitations read “The American Institute of Architects, founded in the year 1857, will commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of this date, in the City of Washington, on the eighth of January 1907, and will esteem it an honor if the _______can be represented on this occasion.” To confuse one a bit, the actual “commemorative exercises” were on January 9, beginning at the New Willard Hotel at 14th and Pennsylvania at 2:30 p.m., with greetings from architecture societies, art groups, and universities around the world, and featured “addresses, reminiscent and historical.” MORE

‘The Vietnam Situation Is Hell’: The AIA’s Internal Struggle over the War in Southeast Asia

The socially turbulent 1960s and early ’70s were a time in the U.S. when people tested and challenged inherited norms and verities, and the AIA was not untouched by the spirit and mood of the moment. Critical national and international events forced the organization, which for 100 years had a reputation for being civic minded, to reconsider its standing in the larger society. As social movements percolated across the country, the AIA took a hard look at itself and asked fundamental questions about the social role of professional societies in general and of architects in particular. Which social ills required the attention of the AIA? Were there questions of conscience, non-professional in nature, that demanded that the organization leverage its influence and prestige in Washington? Was it right for members to ask the AIA to take positions on issues beyond the expertise of architects and planners? Did circumstances sometimes require it? MORE

Spinning a Golden Webb
First AIA Gold Medal recipient a highly regarded British architect

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the AIA bestowed its first Gold Medal on English architect Sir Aston Webb in 1907. Webb, known for his Beaux Arts and Victorian works, humbly thanked the reception crowd, saying, "The memory of this evening will remain with me all my life. I shall take the medal home and keep it amongst my most treasured possessions." MORE

1947-1956: Wright Recognition, White House Renovation, AIA Closes on 100

The decade following World War II did not begin easily for the AIA. Although it had let the contract for construction of a new Administration Building in 1940, and construction was completed, the war intervened, and the Institute did not gain occupancy for another eight years. The federal government had taken over the two-story brick building-which wrapped around the rear of the Octagon garden, stretching from New York Avenue to the Octagon stable-at an annual rental of $12,000. A fence separated the Administration Building from the Octagon garden. In the meantime, the stable along the north part of the property, which the District government had condemned, was stabilized and the cornice of the new building wrapped around it. In 1947, the government agreed to return the building to the AIA in June of 1948. MORE

1917-1926: A New Power Structure: World War I, Pageantry, and the Power of the Press

It came as no surprise to architects that with the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson as president on March 4, 1913, ready access to the power of the presidency ended for architects. Wilson's opponents, President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt, whom the Republican Party split to nominate, were respected friends of architecture and the arts. Both also were AIA members: Taft was elected Hon. AIA in 1907, Roosevelt in 1909. Clearly, they had had the support of the art community, and Scotch Presbyterian Wilson was in no mood to forgive architects for their lack of support for him. MORE

A Decade of Depression and Perseverance

"Architecture as an Art" was the theme in Washington, on May 11, 1927, as AIA President Milton Medary opened the 60th AIA Convention. MORE

The Institute's Influence on Legislative Policy
Congressional advocacy puts architects' issues on national stage

With great prescience, AIA Secretary Glenn Brown, FAIA, a founding member of the Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, urged the society to relocate to the nation's capital from its New York City headquarters. In D.C., Brown and his contemporaries reasoned, the Institute could influence federal building efforts and funding. Members considered other locations, but ultimately chose Washington, D.C., in 1898 for its political access and ties to money and power. MORE

The Tenth Decade: 1957-1966
A new century beckons

AIA President Leon Chatelain Jr., a Washingtonian, presided over the AIA during its Centennial Year in 1957, with a clear message to the membership: "All that the architects of America have come to know in the hundred years since 1857, all of the ingredients and technology and craft that is architecture in 1957, can barely answer the need of our times. Of the future we know only this: that its pressures and the sum of the daily hungers of its people will pull us into a frenzy of coordinated creativity. The hundred years that have crowded in behind us have pushed us into another century of professional evolution. We have neither time nor balance to stand still, to contemplate our past. In the year of our centennial, let us look with care where we are going-into the future. We are needed there." MORE

1967-1976: New HQ and a New Age Take Center Stage

Times were relatively good and administrative space tight for the AIA national component, so leaders were planning a new national headquarters building to "satisfy both physical and spiritual functions-a building of special architectural significance, establishing a symbol of the creative genius of our time yet complementing, protecting and preserving a cherished symbol of another time, the historic Octagon House." MORE

AIA Launches "Blueprint for America"
Nationwide community service program marks 150th anniversary

The AIA launched a nationwide community service program, titled "Blueprint for America: A Gift to the Nation," on May 19 by funding the first 60 grants for collaborative visioning initiatives between AIA architects and their communities created to produce a shared vision for a more livable future. The AIA will provide $2 million in the next six months to fund more than 200 grants. MORE

A New Home for the AIA in 1973; A Greener Home in 2007

Can you imagine the intensity back in the '60s when AIA members decided to design their own headquarters building? When the new building finally was dedicated in 1973, Max Urbahn, chair of the jury that selected The Architect's Collaborative (TAC) to design the Institute headquarters, commented: "Few buildings in history-perhaps none-have been the focus, either in kind or in degree, of such architectural attention, involvement, anguish, dedication, and criticism." MORE

Diversity and the Profession: The Story Continues

"When an organization leverages diversity, it sees things that cannot be seen working from the basis of sameness. Leveraging diversity results in greater innovation and greater capacity for change," write Frederick A. Miller and Judith H. Katz in The Inclusion Breakthrough. As the AIA marks its 150th year, the Institute continues to look inward and outward to provide more opportunities to make architecture a more inclusive profession. AIArchitect interviewed AIA President Kate Schwennsen, FAIA, on issues relating to diversity and inclusiveness. MORE

Diversity and the Profession: Take II

Theodore Landsmark, Assoc. AIA, Boston Architectural Center president and chief executive officer, and AIA Diversity Committee Chair will receive The Whitney M. Young Jr. Award on June 9 at the AIA 2006 national convention in Los Angeles. The award is given in memory of the civil rights leader who at the 1968 AIA convention challenged architects to actively increase attention to the inequities suffered by minorities. Here, Landsmark, the 35th recipient of the award, speaks with AIArchitect about diversity in the profession, the role of AIA and collateral organizations in fostering diversity, and where we can go from here. MORE

SOM and the Firm Award: Two Times Is the Charm
Consulting Partner Adrian Smith speaks about winning AIA Firm Award two times

Since Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's founding in 1936, the firm has completed more than 10,000 architecture, engineering, interior architecture, and planning projects in more than 50 countries around the world. Many of their projects, of course, are iconic buildings that are standing the test of time: the Sears Tower and John Hancock Building in Chicago; New York City's Lever House; and other signature projects including the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai. In 1961, SOM received the first AIA Architecture Firm Award, the Institute's highest honor for design excellence in a collaborative practice. It is the only firm to be so honored twice, winning again in 1996. Over the years, SOM has received more than 800 design awards. MORE

AIA Architects Champion "Blueprint for America"
Local/state components to sponsor locally directed initiatives for AIA150

AIA component executives and their 232 "champions" rallied in Chantilly, Va., November 6-7, to inspire and be inspired to celebrate the Institute's "AIA150" sesquicentennial anniversary. The AIA150 champions-selected by their local and state chapters to spearhead the "Blueprint for America" local projects and events that will commemorate the Institute's 150th year in 2007-spent the two days trading both dreams and level-headed advice about choosing the right kinds of projects and how to get them done. MORE

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