Architectural Digest

History

Originally a quarterly trade directory called The Architectural Digest: A Pictorial Digest of California's Best Architecture, the magazine was launched in 1920 by John Coke Brasfield (1880—1965), a Tennessee-born importer and advertising executive who founded the John C. Brasfield Publishing Corporation, which was based in Los Angeles, California. Interiors and exteriors of residences were featured in the magazine, along with floor plans.
By 1963, the magazine's subtitle had been altered to A Pictorial Digest of Outstanding Architecture, Interior Design, and Landscaping, and it began publishing on a bimonthly schedule. Two years later, The Architectural Digest and its publishing company were purchased by Cleon T. Knapp, the magazine's advertising director and the son of Brasfield's daughter Sarah "Sally" Brasfield Knapp (1910—1996), who served, at various times, as the magazine's editor in chief, managing editor, and associate publisher. The magazine's subtitle was altered to The Quality Guide to Home Decorating Ideas shortly thereafter, and was changed again, in 1974, to The Connoisseur's Magazine of Fine Interior Design. The John C. Brasfield Publishing Company was renamed Knapp Communications Corporation in 1977.
Condé Nast Publications purchased Architectural Digest, as well as its sister publication Bon Appétit, from Knapp in April 1993