AA Sporadical: From the stairwell by Lira Welts

Nothing excites this gossip columnist like an opportunity of getting the keys to the architecture networking castle, even if those keys and that castle are a bit dusty. For a limited time, on loan from the AA Archive, I have in my possession an astonishing pre-digital social media relic, the AA Rolodex! Actually, a Rotadex, manufactured in Birmingham; the company is still thriving today.

This spindle of pastel-coloured index cards was lovingly built up over the 40-year career of AA Secretary Edouard le Maistre. There might be about 700-800 cards here containing the contacts of the entire span of Alvin Boyarksy’s chairmanship, Alan Balfour’s, Mohsen Mostafavi’s and the first two years of Brett Steele’s directorship. The older phone numbers are pre-London prefixes, fax numbers are celebrated and then crossed out in favour of new-fangled email addresses. About every fifth card is updated, old addresses and numbers crossed out rather than wastefully replacing a notched card. Some are handwritten, others tapped out on a typewriter. Lots of business cards are stapled in, each broadcasting its graphic design Zeitgeist faster than you can say Pentagram circa 1989. Wolf Prix’s card gets seven phone number updates over time. Richard Rogers’ and James Stirling’s home numbers are noted.   

Most cards, no surprise, are architects’ offices, most gone or moved by now, but not all. Then there are the outlier cards, one, marked “Restaurants” looks to be of Boyarsky or Balfour vintage and lists out:

Antoine’s (crossed out, formerly at 40 Charlotte Street)

Bombay Brasserie

Balzac Bistro

Bibendum

Bentleys

Chelsea Arts

Café Pelican

Chez Solanges

Chez Gerrard

Caprice  

But, wait, there are more restaurant cards, like ten more, a veritable who-ate-what-where shortlist including Odin’s, the Ritz, the Ivy, Criterion, and Tante Claire (Chelsea, long gone). There are a lot of bookshop cards, almost none still in existence. Travel agents, ditto. Lots of publishers, magazine editors, newspaper contacts lurk in the cards. Some museum curators and galleries are squeezed in; Max Protetch’s card is well-worn. Very few business types or politicians, but a good many ambassadors called upon, no doubt, to sort a visa or two over the years. The occasional engineer and construction firm (like five) made it in. There are several Sirs and Ladies in Eaton Square in the mix, some BBC radio and television names, a dozen RIBA big-wigs scattered about.

What comes across in spades is how international the AA’s been since 1969 when this Rotadex got started. European professors reaching well past the Iron Curtain. Lots and lots of American academics, every Ivy League dean. New York City architects outnumber the Californian 10:1. Commonwealth architecture schools in South Africa, India, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada. An array of contacts both academic and practices in Japan, China, Korea. The alphabetisation sets up interesting juxtapositions: The Malaysian Institute of Architects (Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia or PAM) sits next to the entry for Eduardo Paolozzi, his studio and RCA numbers noted, which rubs shoulders with Juhani Palaasm, Professor and former Dean at the Helsinki University of Technology and Director of the Finnish Museum of Architecture (1978-1983). Despite the global reach, there’s a lot of London in here. About half the cards are addresses you could walk to from Bedford Square or, at least, grab a cab to easily. Oh, yeah, there’s two cards of just cab company numbers, but, relax, no limo service in sight.

Back in the mists of time, before the iPhone, in an age when phones just rang and were answered without caller’s numbers coming up on a screen to save or forward on, such a thing as a Rola-Rotadex was a prized data capturing and archiving device, a central tool in the AA’s daily life, an interprofessional-academical worldwide web or hard-won far-flung colleagues. Other schools would have given away their RIBA medals for just a slice of this thing back when; or perhaps even now. How many of these numbers, prefixes added, might still ring? How many might be answered? Let me dial for you…

Lira Welts

From the stairwell is featured in AA Sporadical, the digital newsletter for alumni of the Architectural Association. To opt in, email events@aaschool.ac.uk.