Heinrich von Ferstel
Encyclopedia
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
- 14 July 1883, Grinzing
Grinzing
Grinzing was an independent municipality until 1892 and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna.- Geography :- Location :...
, near Vienna (now a part of Döbling
Döbling
Döbling is the 19th District in the city of Vienna, Austria . It is located on the north end from the central districts, north of the districts Alsergrund and Währing...
) was an architect who helped build late 19th-century Vienna.
His father Ignaz Ferstel was a bank clerk. After wavering for some time between the different arts, he finally decided on architecture which he studied at the Academy under Eduard van der Nüll
Eduard van der Nüll
Eduard van der Nüll was an Austrian architect, who was one of the great masters in the historicist style of Vienna's Ringstrasse.-Life and work:...
, August Sicard von Sicardsburg, and Rösner
Rosner
Rosner may refer to:* 117439 Rosner, a main-belt asteroid* Saidye Rosner Bronfman , namesake of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the ArtsPeople with the surname Rosner:* Eddie Rosner , Polish jazz musician...
. After several years during which he was in disrepute because of his part in the 1848 Revolution, he entered the atelier of his uncle, Stache, where he worked at the votive altar for the chapel of St. Barbara in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna and co-operated in the restoration and construction of many castles, chiefly in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. Journeys of some length into Germany, Belgium, Holland, and England confirmed him in his tendency towards Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. It was in Italy, however, where he was sent as a bursar in 1854, that he was converted to the Renaissance style of architecture, and his admiration for Bramante. He began to use of polychromy by means of Graffito decoration and terracotta. This device, adapted from the Early Renaissance and intended to convey a fuller sense of life, he employed later in the Austrian Museum.
While still in Italy he was awarded the prize in the competition for the votive church (Votivkirche) of Vienna (1855) over 74 contestants. He built it between 1856-79. After his death it was proposed by Sir Tatton Sykes as a model for the new Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...
in London. Another of Ferstel's monumental works belonging to the same period is the Austro-Hungarian bank in Vienna, in the style of the Early Renaissance (1856–60). The expansion of the city of Vienna enabled Ferstel, with Rudolf Eitelberger
Rudolf Eitelberger
Rudolf Eitelberger, full name Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg was an art historian and the first Ordinarius for art history at the University of Vienna...
, to develop civic architecture along artistic lines (Burgomaster
Burgomaster
Burgomaster is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration...
's residence, Stock Exchange 1859). At the same time he had also the opportunity of putting his ideas into practice in a number of private dwellings and villas in Brünn
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
and Vienna.
The more important buildings designed during his later years (passing over the churches at Schonau near Teplitz, really products of his earlier activity) are the palace of Archduke Ludwig Victor
Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria
Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria from the House of Habsburg was the youngest son born to Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and Princess Sophie of Bavaria...
, his winter palace in Klessheim
Schloss Klessheim
Schloss Klessheim is a Baroque palace situated west of Salzburg in the Austrian commune of Wals-Siezenheim. A former summer residence of the Archbishops of Salzburg, it is now used by Salzburg Casino.-History:...
, the palace of Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein in the Rossau
Rossau
Rossau may refer to:* Rossau, Saxony, a municipality in the district of Mittweida, Saxony, Germany* Rossau, Saxony-Anhalt, a municipality in the district of Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany* Roßau, a part of the 9th district of Vienna, Austria...
near Vienna, the palace of the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's, in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, but above all the Austrian Museum for Applied Art (completed in 1871), with its impsosing arcaded court. Next comes the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
(1871–84). He was also an author of the project of the reconstruction in the Neo-Gothic style the evangelical Church's of Saviour in Bielsko
Bielsko-Biala
-Economy and Industry:Nowadays Bielsko-Biała is one of the best-developed parts of Poland. It was ranked 2nd best city for business in that country by Forbes. About 5% of people are unemployed . Bielsko-Biała is famous for its textile, machine-building, and especially automotive industry...
(1881–1882). Through a technical error his design for the Berlin Reichstag building
Reichstag (building)
The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. During the Nazi era, the few meetings of members of the...
received no award. In 1866 Ferstel was appointed professor at the Polytechnic School
Polytechnic School
Polytechnic School, often referred to as simply Poly, is a college preparatory private school in Pasadena, California.-History:The school was founded in 1907 as the first private non-sectarian, non-profit elementary school in California. It descends from the Throop Polytechnic Institute founded by...
, in 1871 chief government inspector of public works and in 1879 was raised to the rank of Freiherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
.