Ok, that sounds like a disaster, and the 10 years part sounds like this was a temporary setup for a start-up that has outgrown it. He's undermining the team's

Ok, that sounds like a disaster, and the 10 years part sounds like this was a temporary setup for a start-up that has outgrown it. He's undermining the team's authority on their portion of the work, and it sounds like he's keeping the architect on a leash so tight that career growth is impossible. Additionally, the 3 week delay is inappropriate and evidence that he needs to butt out and learn to delegate. As there's support from above on this, it sounds like it's unlikely to change until something goes badly wrong, sadly.