In architectural history then the focus on the biography either of an architect or sometimes a patron separates 'architecture' from the function of the building, the theory of the processes of architecture and the broader social and cultural significance. To this end architecture is presented in a kind of historical cul-de-sac divorced from any contemporary or theoretical meaning it may have.
Ch. 2 : The authority of the author : Biography and the reconstruction of the canon - Reading Architectural History (2002)