ABSTRACT
While patrons and owners’ names are prominently displayed on buildings, architects’ names rarely appear on the buildings that they design. With some distinct variations, this is generally true throughout history. When we say that someone ‘built’ a building, the phrase is used of the owner as much as of the architect, though in different causative senses. Today, architects sign their drawings but not their buildings. The architect’s presence is often hidden in their own buildings. Nevertheless, there are exceptional cases when architects do sign the buildings of their designs. Even in these relatively rare instances, the architect’s name is subordinated to that of the patron and usually hidden in size, location and expression of identity - to the point of being easily overlooked. Standard architectural photographs do not record architects’ signatures, and they are rarely even mentioned in architectural literature. Architects’ signatures are often indirect, made with cunning. Some signatures reflect the origin of the physical building in the drawings and ideas of the architect. Perhaps only hidden architects are free to be critical of dominant social and economic powers.
