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Abstract
Between the Standard Catalogue Company selling AD and Andreas Papadakis’s Academy Editions buying it in 1977, the magazine was owned for a year by an off-the-shelf company called Acroshaw, set up by the editors Martin Spring and Haig Beck. This precarious year, when AD was perilously close to closing down, is forgotten in history, but was definitive in turning the previous champion of neo-avant-garde movements such as Brutalism, Cedric Price and Archigram into the mouthpiece of Charles Jencks and Post-Modernism. Through oral history, biography and previously unseen notes taken by Spring at the time, this article recounts this fateful year in detail. It describes the struggles between the uncomfortable ménage à trois of Spring, Beck and Papadakis, demonstrating how an acute business acumen prevailed over architectural idealism in the battle to define architecture.
Acknowledgements
This article is dedicated to Martin Spring, without whom it would not have been possible, but who died before it was published. I am grateful to Martin for lending me his detailed notes from the time in question, which he kept in a file until his death, and upon which much of the detail of this story is based; and to Alexandra Papadakis for her generous help and allowing me access to her father’s papers.
Notes
1 Monica Pidgeon (b. September 29, 1913, El Ñilhue, Chile, d. September 17, 2009, London, England).
2 For a history of AD under Pidgeon, see Stephen Parnell, “Architectural Design, 1954–1972: The Contribution of the Architectural Magazine to the Writing of Architectural History” (Ph.D. diss., University of Sheffield, 2012), esp. fig. 4.9, p. 124, for circulation figures.
3 David Dunster, “Boyarsky and the Architectural Association,” in An Architect’s Guide to Fame: A Collection of Essays on Why They Got Famous and You Didn’t, ed. Torsten Schmiedeknecht and Paul Davies (London: Architectural Press, 2005), 333, n. 9.
4 Peter Davey, “AR Reviews AA,” Architectural Review (October 1983): 23.
5 For example, see the preface to Bernard Porter, Battle of the Styles: Society, Culture and the Design of the New Foreign Office, 1855–1861 (London: Continuum, 2011).
6 Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature (Cambridge: Polity, 1993).
7 For more on the conference, see John Smith, “The Schools,” Architecture & Building News (February 1958): 43; Leslie Martin, “Conference on Architectural Education,” RIBA Journal (June 1958): 279–282; and Mark Crinson and Jules Lubbock, Architecture, Art or Profession?: Three Hundred Years of Architectural Education in Britain (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994), 137–148. The Oxford Conference was held at Magdalen College, Oxford, April 11–13, 1958.
8 Charles Jencks, “125 Years of Quasi Democracy,” in A Continuing Experiment: Learning and Teaching at the Architectural Association (London: Architectural Press, 1975), 149–159.
9 For more on Boyarsky’s AA, see Igor Marjanovic, “Alvin Boyarsky’s Chicago,” AA Files 60 (2010): 45–52; Igor Marjanovic, “Lines and Words on Display: Alvin Boyarsky as a Collector, Curator and Publisher,” Arq: Architectural Research Quarterly 14, no. 2 (June 2010): 165–174; and Irene Sunwoo, “The Static Age,” AA Files 61 (2010): 118–129.
10 Andrew Higgott lists a stellar series of lectures until 1987, in Andrew Higgott, Mediating Modernism: Architectural Cultures in Britain (London: Routledge, 2007), 178. Jencks lectured regularly on semiotics in the early 1970s; Claire Jamieson, NATØ: Narrative Architecture in Postmodern London (London: Routledge, 2017), 15, 59, n. 7.
11 Irene Sunwoo, “Pedagogy’s Progress: Alvin Boyarsky’s International Institute of Design,” Grey Room 34 (Winter 2009): 52.
12 Higgott, Mediating Modernism; Jamieson, NATØ, 177–119; Andrew Higgott, “Boyarsky at the AA,” Arq: Architectural Research Quarterly 14, no. 3 (2010): 189.
13 Martin Spring (b. December 3, 1945, Paisley, Scotland, d. February 24, 2016, London, England).
14 Haig Beck (b. November 15, 1944, Brisbane, Australia).
15 The biographical information about Spring is from Martin Spring, interview with the author, March 30, 2011.
16 Spring attended Glasgow School of Architecture (now part of Strathclyde University) from 1962 to 1963, then Edinburgh College of Art for two years from (he thought) 1964.
17 When Beck started in 1963, it was called Brisbane Central Technical College; it ultimately became part of the University of Queensland.
18 He remembered it was Trafalgar Day; Haig Beck, interview by Robert Riddel and Janina Gosseye, January 11, 2013. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl9Hk6XJJyw (accessed June 13, 2017).
19 Ibid.
20 He did not technically “graduate” until 1981 once he had submitted his history dissertation and paid up his fees; ibid.
21 Jamieson, NATØ, 118.
22 Haig Beck, “Letter from London,” Architectural Design (October 1975): 138.
23 The biographical information about Beck is from an email conversation with Beck’s partner, Jackie Cooper, and the author, April 2, 2012; and Haig Beck, interview by Riddel and Gosseye.
24 Parnell, “Architectural Design, 1954–1972,” 225.
25 Cooper, email to the author.
26 David Dunster, “Fellow Travellers, Read On,” Architectural Design (June 1976): 324.
27 Such as Peter Hecht, “Signal Service,” Architectural Design (October 1976): 580.
28 A memo from Andreas Papadakis to AD staff, in Spring’s personal papers, and dated February 21, 1977, states that “December shows that the subscribers were slightly under 5000 and there were retail sales of just over 1000. The bulk of the sales have been to overseas customers. The home subscribers are well under 1000 in number” (see Figure 4). However, in a letter from Jeffrey Segal to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Spring’s file and dated December 14, 1976, he mentions that the print run is 9000. Publishers always print more than the subscription numbers, of course, and Papadakis liked to print as many as he thought he could sell over the long term.
29 Note in Spring’s personal papers, February 21, 1977.
30 According to Martin Spring, “Memorandum on Acroshaw Ltd (Draft),” March 28, 1977, 2, in Spring’s personal papers.
31 Although Beck claims that to be their first co-edited issue; Haig Beck, “Being There,” AD, October 2000, 99.
32 Martin Spring, “Disparate Trends,” Architectural Design (March 1976): 131.
33 Haig Beck, “Letter from London,” Architectural Design (March 1976): 183.
34 Andreas Papadakis (b. June 17, 1938, Nicosia, Cyprus, d. June 10, 2008, Berkshire, England).
35 Spring in discussion with the author, March 30, 2011.
36 He received a Diploma from Faraday House (DFH) in 1961 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Materials Science (DIC) from Imperial College, University of London; Papadakis curriculum vitae and certificates in personal papers held by his daughter, Alexandra Papadakis.
37 With a dissertation entitled “Transient Currents in Insulators,” submitted in 1969, available at Brunel University Library, Shelf Number PH.D.P36. The certificate is among his personal papers held by his daughter Alexandra.
38 Sheila de Vallée in discussion with the author, May 9, 2011.
39 For the Post Office at Dulles Hill Research Station, see ibid.
40 Clive Aslet, “Andreas Papadakis,” The Telegraph, August 18, 2008, Obituaries section, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2581290/Andreas-Papadakis.html.
41 Ibid.; Marcus Binney, “Obituary,” Times Online, June 30, 2008. Available online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4424818.ece; original in Papadakis personal papers.
42 “Alec Tiranti Ltd: About Us.” Available online: http://www.tiranti.co.uk/about_us.php (accessed June 13, 2016).
43 Rudolph Wittkower, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism (London: Alec Tiranti, 1952).
44 Personal communication with the author, May 29, 2011.
45 Geoffrey Broadbent in discussion with the author, January 27, 2007.
46 Details are taken from the Agreement of Sale in Spring’s personal papers.
47 Cooper, email to the author.
48 Beck, “Being There,” 99.
49 Listed in the Agreement of Sale Fourth Schedule as Martin Spring (editor), Haig Beck (associate editor), Marilyn Jones (part-time subeditor), Robert Kingsley (production editor) and Marica Cooper (editorial secretary).
50 Martin Spring in discussion with the author, March 30, 2011.
51 Cooper, email to the author.
52 Maggie Toy in discussion with the author, April 21, 2012.
53 Cooper, email to the author. A note on the contents page of the October 1976 issue states the second address change.
54 According to Martin Spring, “AD OFFICE DEMANDS,” November 26, 1976, 2, in Spring’s personal papers.
55 A term mentioned in Martin Spring, Letter to Garry Morton (secretary of the Magazine Branch of the NUJ), May 12, 1977, in Spring’s personal papers.
56 Jeffrey Segal, Letter to Robert Norris of the NUJ, December 14, 1976, in Spring’s personal papers.
57 According to Andreas Papadakis memo to staff, February 21, 1977, in Spring’s personal papers.
58 According to Spring, “Memorandum on Acroshaw Ltd (Draft).” The staff members were Segal (editorial assistant), Cooper (editorial secretary) and Danuta Trebus (production editor).
59 Papadakis received no salary from Acroshaw according to Andreas Papadakis memo to staff, February 21, 1977, in Spring’s personal papers.
60 According to Andreas Papadakis memo to consultants, March 29, 1977, in Spring’s personal papers.
61 From Architectural Design (September–October 1977).
62 It is not clear to whom this memo would have been addressed at this point, and is possibly more Spring externalizing his frustrations on paper.
63 According to Spring, “Memorandum on Acroshaw Ltd (Draft),” 3.
64 The Editors, “Note,” Architectural Design (April 1977): 239.
65 A UK subscription rose from £11.40 to £14.00 per annum; an international subscription from US$43 to US$45 per annum; and the cover price from 80p to £1.00. British annual inflation rates were high at the time: in 1975, the consumer price index (CPI) was 24.2 percent; in 1976 it was 16.5 percent; and in 1977 it was 15.8 percent.
66 Martin Spring, “The Subversion of A.D.,” Slate (1978): 5.
67 With an editorial board comprising Alvin Boyarsky, Robert Maxwell, Robert Stern and James Stirling.
68 Venturi and Rauch: The Public Buildings. Architectural Monographs 1 (London: Academy Editions, 1978); Hector Guimard. Architectural Monographs 2 (London: Academy Editions, 1978); James Gowan. Architectural Monographs 3 (London: Academy Editions, 1978); Alvar Aalto. Architectural Monographs 4 (London: Academy Editions, 1978).
69 Michael Graves. Architectural Monographs 5 (London: Academy Editions, 1979); Edwin Lutyens. Architectural Monographs 6 (London: Academy Editions , 1979); Alison + Peter Smithson: The Shift. Architectural Monographs 7 (London: Academy Editions, 1982).
70 Spring, “The Subversion of A.D.,” 5.
71 Charles Jencks (b. June 21, 1939, Baltimore, Maryland, USA).
72 Cooper, email to the author; Beck, interview by Riddel and Gosseye.
73 Charles Jencks, “The Rise of Post-Modern Architecture,” Architectural Association Quarterly 7 (Winter 1975): 3–14.
74 Beck, “Being There,” 99; The article was published as Charles Jencks, “Isozaki and Radical Eclecticism,” Architectural Design (January 1977): 42–50.
75 Charles Jencks in discussion with the author, December 14, 2011.
76 Papadakis oversaw 102 Profiles up to his last, Folding in Architecture, of early 1993. Jencks guest-edited nine of these, Catherine Cooke six, Derek Walker four and Demetri Porphyrios three.
77 The square, glued-spine, bimonthly double issue format became the standard for AD from 1980 onwards.
78 Jencks in discussion with the author, December 14, 2011.
79 Beck, “Being There,” 98.
80 Toy in discussion with the author, April 21, 2012.
81 Geoffrey Broadbent, notes in unsorted Papadakis papers held by Alexandra Papadakis.
82 Parnell, “Architectural Design, 1954–1972,” 205–12, has more details on Cosmorama.
83 Ian Latham in discussion with the author, February 16, 2012.
84 The first list comprises Cooke, Dennis Crompton, Dunster, Frampton, Jencks, Maxwell, Porphyrios, Colin Rowe and Walker. Dunster is removed in March 1983. Krier is added in March 1985, Farrell in July 1985 and Heinrich Klotz in September 1985.
85 Jencks in discussion with the author, December 14, 2011.
86 Charles Jencks, “Desert Island Discs.” Available online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k9n81 (accessed July 6, 2012).
87 Jencks’s expression from a discussion with the author, December 14, 2011.
88 Cooper, email to the author.
89 Haig Beck, “Coming in AD,” Architectural Design (January 1977): 66.
90 Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. Museum of Modern Art Papers in Architecture (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1966), 22–23.
91 Charles Jencks, The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, 3rd ed. (London: Academy Editions, 1981), 6.
92 Academy published eleven other books by Jencks besides The Language of Post-Modern Architecture before 1990. For an incomplete discussion of this, see Elie Haddad, “Charles Jencks and the Historiography of Post-Modernism,” Journal of Architecture 14 (2009): 493–510. Haddad has the number of editions incorrect in note 13: there was no new edition in 1988, and there have only been seven editions in total.
93 Beck, “Being There,” 100. Ryan McCrudden and Mat Witts have the circulation as 10,000, from an interview with Beck. This is quite plausible, although other circulation figures quoted in their chapter do not coincide with those taken from Spring’s documents from the time; Ryan McCrudden and Mat Witts. “Editors – Architectural Design in the 1970s and 1980s,” in Schmiedeknecht and Davies, Architect’s Guide to Fame, 188. Beck estimated the circulation as 7000; Beck, “Being There,” 101. He caveats another interview with the fact that he “lives in the future” and is not prone to reflecting on the past; Beck interview by Riddel and Gosseye.
94 Beck, “Being There,” 100.
95 Ibid.
96 OMA (AD Profile 5), Architectural Design 47 no. 5 (1977).
97 Bruce Goff (AD Profile 16), ed. John Sargeant and Stephen Mooring, Architectural Design 48 no. 10 (1978).
98 Centre Pompidou (AD Profile 2), Architectural Design 47 no. 2 (1977).
99 Foster Associate’s Sainsbury Centre (AD Profile 19), Architectural Design 49 no. 2 (1979).
100 Tafuri/Culot/Krier (AD Profile 3), Architectural Design 47 no. 3 (1977); Urban Transformations (AD Profile 12), ed. Léon Krier, Architectural Design 48 no. 4 (1978); Rob Krier/Leo Krier (AD Profile 18), Architectural Design 49 no. 1 (1979).
101 London 1900 (AD Profile 13), ed. Gavin Stamp, Architectural Design, 48 nos. 5–6 (1978); Beaux-Arts (AD Profile 13), ed. Robin Middleton, Architectural Design 48, nos. 11–12 (1978); Roma Interrotta (AD Profile 20), ed. Michael Graves, Architectural Design 49, nos. 3–4 (1979); Leonis Baptista Alberti (AD Profile 21), ed. Joseph Rykwert, Architectural Design 49, nos. 5–6 (1979).
102 Post-Modernism (AD Profile 4), ed. Charles Jencks, Architectural Design 47, no. 4 (1977); Post-Modern History (AD Profile 10), ed. Charles Jencks, Architectural Design 48, no. 1 (1978). This latter issue became the fourth chapter in the second edition of The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, published later that year.
103 Beck’s version of the story is recorded in Beck, “Being There,” which is also available at Beck, “Being There: Haig Beck Remembers Monica Pidgeon and His Time at the AD,” Building Design, October 30, 2009. Available online: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/comment/letters/being-there-haig-beck-remembers-monica-pidgeon-and-his-time-at-the-ad/3152199.article (accessed December 18, 2013).