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Architect · 1781–1841

Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) was a Prussian architect, painter and stage designer, born in Neuruppin. He trained in Berlin under David Gilly and his son Friedrich Gilly. After returning from Italy in 1805 he worked mainly as a painter and set designer; his 1816 sets for Mozart's The Magic Flute included a night sky full of stars. After Napoleon's defeat he directed the Prussian Building Commission and designed many of Berlin's main public buildings.

His Neue Wache (1816-1818), a royal guardhouse on Unter den Linden, is a square block with a Doric portico. The Schauspielhaus (1818-1821), now the Konzerthaus, stands on the Gendarmenmarkt. The Altes Museum (1825-1830), built to show the royal art collection to the public, faces the Lustgarten with a portico of eighteen Ionic columns, which have scroll-shaped tops, and has a domed central rotunda modeled on the Pantheon in Rome.

Schinkel also designed in Gothic. The Friedrichswerder Church (1824-1831) is a Gothic Revival church in brick. His Bauakademie (1832-1836), a school of building, was a square block of exposed red brick with large windows and little added ornament, and is often cited as a forerunner of modern architecture. It was demolished in 1962. He also designed the Iron Cross, a Prussian military medal first awarded in 1813.

known for

  • Altes Museum
  • Konzerthaus Berlin
  • Neue Wache
  • Bauakademie
  • Friedrichswerder Church

styles

Second Bank of the United States, Philadelphia: an example of Greek Revival Greek Revival c. 1820–1860 The Greek temple front reborn: full-height columns, a wide plain band above them, and a low triangular gable. Panthéon, Paris, France: an example of Neoclassical Neoclassical c. 1750–1850 Buildings modeled closely on Greek and Roman temples: grand columned porches, domes, and plain, symmetrical walls.