The Académie d’Architecture started life in 1840 as the Société Central des Architectes (SCA). This was three years after its analogue in England, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and seventeen years before the American Institute of Architects. The SCA changed its name to the Académie d’Architecture in 1953. All three are the leading professional organizations in their countries, but the name Académie sets the French one apart as more a learned society than a professional organization.

Professor Levine was awarded the medal in June and was kind enough to...