In the history of building, Heinrich von Ferstel is one of the names that keeps returning.
The record lists Heinrich von Ferstel as Austrian architect (1828-1883).
Heinrich von Ferstel was born at Vienna in 1828. His recorded nationality is Austria. He trained at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Industrialisation gave architecture iron, glass and the lift, and with them the problems of the railway station, the factory and the tall city block.
He is recorded as architect, professor and teacher.
An architect is judged by how a building is used a century after the drawings.
Recognition followed: Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art and honorary citizen of Vienna.
That the work was built in Austria shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Heinrich von Ferstel died in 1883, aged 55. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
- honorary citizen of Vienna
- Trained at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
