1863 in architecture

The year 1863 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

• January 10 – The Metropolitan Railway, London, England, is opened, the world's first underground railway (engineer: John Fowler).
• December 2 – The Statue of Freedom is set on top of the new dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
• date unknown
• The École des Beaux-Arts in Paris becomes independent of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
• William Burges is declared winner of the competition to design the new Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork (Church of Ireland), his first major commission.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

• March 2 – Clapham Junction railway station, London.
• October 18 – Befreiungshalle memorial above Kelheim in Bavaria, designed by Friedrich von Gärtner and completed by Leo von Klenze, is inaugurated.
• October 27 – Leeuwarden railway station in the Netherlands, designed by Charles van Brederode.
• December 13 – Gulen Church, Eivindvik, Norway, designed by Georg Andreas Bull, consecrated by Dean Thomas Erichsen.

Buildings completed

• Berns Salonger, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Smíchov Synagogue, Prague, Czech Republic.
• Kelham Hall near Newark-on-Trent, England, designed by George Gilbert Scott.

Awards

• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Anthony Salvin.
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: .

Births

• April 3 – Henry van de Velde, Belgian painter, architect and interior designer (died 1957)
• May 17 – C. R. Ashbee, English interior designer (died 1942)
• October 21 – Sir George Troup, New Zealand architect, engineer and statesman (died 1941)
• December 16 – Ralph Adams Cram, American architect of academic and ecclesiastical buildings (died 1942)
• W. G. R. Sprague, Australian-born British theatre architect (died 1933)

Deaths

• June 16 – Ludwig Förster, Austrian religious architect (died 1797)
• September 17 – Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect, archaeologist and writer (born 1788)
• October 9 – Andrew Egan, Irish architect and builder (born c.1810)
• October 28 – William Cubitt, English building and civil engineering contractor and politician (born 1791)
• December 29 – Joseph John Scoles, English Catholic architect (born 1798)

References