The year 1897 in architecture involved some significant events.

Events

* April 3 –

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...

group founded by Otto Wagner, Joseph Maria Olbrich and Josef Hoffmann among others. *

David Ewart David Ewart, ISO (18 February 1841 – 6 June 1921) was a Canadian architect who served as Chief Dominion Architect from 1896 to 1914. As chief government architect he was responsible for many of the federal buildings constructed in this period. ...

succeeds

Thomas Fuller Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his ''Worthies of England'', published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and ...

Chief Dominion Architect Chief Dominion Architect was a position created in 1871 by the Government of Canada to help design public federal buildings across Canada. The role reported to the Minister of Public Works. From World War II onwards to 1973 (renamed Chief Architect ...

of the Government of Canada. * James Knox Taylor becomes

Supervising Architect The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939. The office handled some of the most important architectural commissions of the nineteenth ...

of the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

Buildings and structures

Buildings

Thomas Jefferson Building Aerial by Carol M

* May 1 ** Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum, designed by Wilhelm Dahlerup, opens in Copenhagen. ** Tennessee Centennial Exposition opens in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, with a temporary pyramid for Memphis, TN and a copy of the Parthenon, which will be rebuilt of permanent materials in the 1920s. * May 12 – The new

Oxford Town Hall Oxford Town Hall is a public building in St Aldate's Street in central Oxford, England. It is both the seat of Oxford City Council and a venue for public meetings, entertainment and other events. It also includes the Museum of Oxford. Although ...

, designed by Henry Hare, is officially opened in England. * May 16 – The Teatro Massimo is inaugurated in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

; it is the largest opera theatre in Italy and the third in Europe. * November 1 – The

Library of Congress Building The Thomas Jefferson Building is the oldest of the four United States Library of Congress buildings. Built between 1890 and 1897, it was originally known as the Library of Congress Building. It is now named for the 3rd U.S. president Thomas Jeffe ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, designed by

Paul J. Pelz Paul Johannes Pelz (18 November 1841 – 30 March 1918) was a German-American architect, best known as the main architect of the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Life and career Paul J. Pelz was born November 18, 1841, in Seitendorf (now ...

, is opened. * Christmas – The

Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul The Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul (french: Cathédrale Saint-Vincent-de-Paul de Tunis) is a Roman Catholic church located in Tunis, Tunisia. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Vincent de Paul, patron saint of charity. It is the episcopal see o ...

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, is completed. * The

Secession Building, Vienna The Secession Building (german: Secessionsgebäude) is an exhibition hall in Vienna, Austria. It was completed in 1898 by Joseph Maria Olbrich as an architectural manifesto for the Vienna Secession, a group of rebel artists that seceded from the ...

, designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich is completed in Austria. *

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, is begun in Scotland. * Arts and Crafts movement houses in England: ** Long Copse, Ewhurst, Surrey, designed by Alfred Hoare Powell, built. **

Munstead Wood Munstead Wood is a Grade I listed house and garden in Munstead Heath, Busbridge on the boundary of the town of Godalming in Surrey, England, south-east of the town centre. The garden was created by garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, and became ...

, designed by

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

for

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...

, begun. * The

Flatiron Building The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, steel-framed landmarked building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia, United States is completed, five years before

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's more famous structure. *

First Church of Christ, Scientist (Chicago, Illinois) The former First Church of Christ, Scientist, built in 1897, is a historic Neo-Classical-style church located at 4017 S. Drexel Boulevard in Chicago, Illinois. It was designed by noted Chicago-based architect Solon Spencer Beman, who was renowne ...

, designed by Solon Spencer Beman, is built. * The

Battenberg Mausoleum The Memorial Tomb of Alexander I of Battenberg ( bg, Гробница паметник „Александър І Батенберг", ''Grobnitsa pametnik „Aleksandar І Batenberg"''), better known as the Battenberg Mausoleum (Мавзолей ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, designed by Hermann Mayer, is completed. * The

Weaver building The Weaver building was a flour mill and corn storage building which formerly stood alongside the half-tide basin of the North Dock in Swansea, South Wales. Standing at six storeys high, 80 ft by 40 ft by 112 ft, with its lower f ...

, a mill at

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, becomes the first building in the United Kingdom to be constructed from

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

, by L. G. Mouchel to Hennebique patents. *

Dresden Hauptbahnhof Dresden Hauptbahnhof ("main station", abbreviated Dresden Hbf) is the largest passenger station in the Saxon capital of Dresden. In 1898, it replaced the ''Böhmischen Bahnhof'' ("Bohemian station") of the former Saxon-Bohemian State Railway ('' ...

railway station in Germany, designed by

Ernst Giese Ernst Friedrich Giese (16 April 1832 – 12 October 1903) was a German architect and university professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and at the Technical University of Dresden. Early life Giese grew up in Bautzen. There he attended the hig ...

and Paul Weidner, is completed. * Restoration and remodelling of

Castelldefels Castle Castelldefels Castle ( es, Castillo de Castelldefels; ca, Castell de Fels) is a frontier fortress in the town of Castelldefels, near Barcelona in Spain, that was built to defend the frontier of the Carolingian Empire against neighbouring Muslim t ...

in Spain by

Enric Sagnier Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia (; 1858 in Barcelona – 1931) was a Spanish architect. Although now not as well known as his contemporaries Antoni Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, he was responsible for a numbe ...

is completed.

Awards

* RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Pierre Cuypers.

Births

* January 2 –

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

, American architect working in Whittier, California (died

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

) * January 23 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (died

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) * February 11 –

Jacob Christie Kielland Jacob Christie Kielland (20 January 1897 – 19 October 1972) was a Norwegian architect. Personal life He was born in Bergen to architect Jens Zetlitz Monrad Kielland (1866–1926) and his wife Anna Magdalena Katherine (1871–1948), née Christi ...

, Norwegian architect (died

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

) * February 25 – Elisabeth Coit, American architect (died

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

) * April 18 – Charles N. Agree, American architect working in Detroit (died

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

) * May 15 – Rudolf Schwarz, German architect (died

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

) * August 16 –

Helge Thiis Helge Thiis (16 August 1897 – 1 August 1972) was a Norwegian architect. He is most noted for service as head architect at the restoration of Nidaros Cathedral. Background Helge Thiis was born in Trondheim, Norway. He was the son of curator an ...

, Norwegian architect and restorer (died 1972) * September 9 – Nancy Lancaster, née Perkins, American-born interior decorator (died

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

) * F. X. Velarde, English Catholic church architect (died

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

)

Deaths

* January 10 – David Brandon, Scottish-born architect (born

1813 Events January–March * January 18–January 23 – War of 1812: The Battle of Frenchtown is fought in modern-day Monroe, Michigan between the United States and a British and Native American alliance. * January 24 – T ...

) * March 25 – Charles Eliot, American landscape architect (born

1859 Events January–March * January 21 – José Mariano Salas (1797–1867) becomes Conservative interim President of Mexico. * January 24 ( O. S.) – Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexandru Ioan Cuza (Romania since 1866, final u ...

) * May 6 –

George Gilbert Scott, Jr. George Gilbert Scott Jr. (8 October 1839 – 6 May 1897) was an English architect working in late Gothic and Queen Anne revival styles. Known in later life as 'Middle Scott', he was the eldest son of Sir Gilbert Scott (George Gilbert Scott), a ...

, English architect (born

1839 Events January–March * January 2 – The first photograph of the Moon is taken, by French photographer Louis Daguerre. * January 6 – Night of the Big Wind: Ireland is struck by the most damaging cyclone in 300 years. * January 9 – T ...

) * June 22 –

William Mason William, Willie, or Willy Mason may refer to: Arts and entertainment *William Mason (poet) (1724–1797), English poet, editor and gardener *William Mason (architect) (1810–1897), New Zealand architect *William Mason (composer) (1829–1908), Ame ...

, New Zealand architect (born

1810 Events January–March * January 1 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales. * January 4 – Australian seal hunter Frederick Hasselborough discovers Campbell Island, in the Subantarctic. * Janua ...

) * December 11 –

John Loughborough Pearson John Loughborough Pearson (5 July 1817 – 11 December 1897) was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficiency ...

, British architect (born

1817 Events January–March * January 1 – Sailing through the Sandwich Islands, Otto von Kotzebue discovers New Year Island. * January 19 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, starts crossing the ...

) * William Lang, American architect (born

1846 Events January–March * January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. * January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway' ...

)

References

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