American Institute of Architects

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) was founded in 1857 in New York City by a group of thirteen architects. The founding members include Charles Babcock, Henry W. Cleaveland, Henry Dudley, Leopold Eidlitz, Edward Gardiner, Richard Morris Hunt, Detlef Lienau, Fred A. Petersen, Jacob Wrey Mould, John Welch, Richard M. Upjohn, and Joseph C. Wells, with Richard Upjohn serving as the first president. They held their inaugural meeting on February 23, 1857, and invited 16 additional architects to join, including Alexander Jackson Davis, Thomas U. Walter, Frederick Clarke Withers, and Calvert Vaux. There were no architectural schools or licensing laws in the United States at the time, allowing anyone to claim to be an architect.

By March 10, 1857, they had drafted a constitution and bylaws under the name New York Society of Architects. The name was later changed to The American Institute of Architects at the suggestion of Thomas U. Walter. On April 15, 1857, the members signed the new constitution, having previously filed a certificate of incorporation two days earlier. The following year, the constitution was amended to include the mission of promoting the artistic, scientific, and practical aspects of architecture, facilitating professional interaction and camaraderie, raising the profession's standing, and uniting architects for the advancement of the field.

In the 1860s, architects from other cities began joining AIA. By the 1880s, chapters had been established in Albany, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. As of 2008, AIA boasts over 200 chapters.

In 1898, the AIA moved into its new national headquarters in the historic Octagon House, in Washington, D.C. AIA rented the building for 4 years, and then purchased it in 1902. Under president of the AIA, D. Everett Waid, in 1926–1927, a plan was designed and then "approved to preserve the Octagon’s smokehouse and stables and to build offices and a library" behind the existing Octagon House but the construction was delayed until 1940 after Waid donated $300,000 to the AIA to commence the work largely to his design specifications.

In the mid-1960s, a design competition was held to select an architect for a new AIA headquarters to be located at 1735 New York Avenue NW, in Washington, D.C. Mitchell Giurgola Architects won the competition but failed to gain approval from the United States Commission of Fine Arts for the design concept. Subsequently, the firm resigned from the commission, and The Architects Collaborative (TAC) was chosen to redesign the building. Led by TAC principals Norman Fletcher and Howard Elkus, the design was ultimately approved in 1970 and completed in 1973.

AIA's headquarters also serves as the home of the American Institute of Architecture Students, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, and the National Architectural Accrediting Board.