This chapter provides an overview of the shifting patterns of use of the architectural model throughout history. It relates several important events in the history of the architectural miniature along with key changes in the design profession's understanding of the model. This chapter is also fundamentally concerned with physical models or their depictions. Virtual and computer models are outside its scope as too are abstract conceptual or thought models. The intention of this chapter is to create a historical and theoretical platform for the investigation of the 'working' or 'design' model at the beginning of the Twenty-First Century.