This paper presents a description and analysis of the demography of the community of notable architects from the Renaissance to the present day. The comprehensive Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects is used as the data source. As a historical description, the paper provides data on the growth in numbers and national composition of the architects included in the Encyclopedia; their activities outside architecture; their linkages, in the form of master-pupil and collegial relationships; and the pattern of their productivity through life. It shows unexpected patterns in the historical growth of this community. These are explained as the result of some simple but deep sociological properties.