May 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Prince of Wales, who recently angered architects by intervening to stop the building of a London apartment complex, tonight urged them to respect history and scale when putting up buildings, and criticized Modernist designs.

“In the world as it is now, there seems to be an awful lot more arrogance than reverence,” the Prince said in a sold-out speech to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), “ a great deal more of the ego than humility, and a surfeit of abstracted ideology over the practical realities linked to people’s lives and the grain of their culture and identity.”

The keynote address, which was boycotted by some architects, came 25 years after Charles, in another speech to RIBA, described a planned National Gallery annex as a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend.” The London gallery ditched the plans, and hired different architects to produce a more traditional design.

The heir to the throne, who was accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, spoke in the packed lecture hall of RIBA’s London headquarters near Regent’s Park. The attentive audience gave him lengthy applause at the end, then accompanied him upstairs to a drinks reception.

The only interruption came from a woman who, as the prince was leaving, shouted: “Abolish the monarchy!” A man countered “Absolutely not,” preventing disruption from taking hold.

Speech Boycott

Several architects boycotted the prince’s speech, including Peter Ahrends, whose plans had been branded a “carbuncle” by Charles in 1984. Ahrends and eight other signatories defended the boycott in the Guardian last weekend, saying the prince aimed to “scupper modern architecture,” and “his actions again threaten an important element of our democratic process.”

The prince has long objected to seeing modern architecture sprout next to most traditional buildings. His latest target is a planned luxury-apartment complex designed by Richard Rogers for the site of a former army barracks in the borough of Chelsea. Charles would like to see the Rogers proposal replaced with something more traditional.

The 12 acres (5 hectares) of land were purchased for 959 million pounds ($1.46 billion) by the Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Co. -- a unit of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund -- and by the property-developing brothers Christian and Nick Candy.

Architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners had been hired to put up “extensive private and affordable residential accommodation, a boutique hotel plus public landscaped gardens,” according to the Candy & Candy Web site. The site pictures a proposed design: a series of steel-and-glass blocks.

In a letter to the Sunday Times published April 19, another group of petitioners -- including Pritzker Architecture Prize winners Foster, Zaha Hadid, and Frank Gehry -- protested the prince’s moves.

“It is essential in a modern democracy that private comments and behind-the-scenes lobbying by the prince should not be used to skew the course of an open and democratic planning process that is currently under way,” they said.

The latest speech marked the institute’s 175th anniversary.

To contact the writer on the story: Farah Nayeri in London at farahn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 12, 2009 16:00 EDT