Georg Andreas Bull (26 March 1829 – 1 February 1917) was a Norwegian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and chief building inspector in Christiania (now Oslo) for forty years. He was among the major architects in the country, and performed surveying studies and archeological research.

Background

Bull was born in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

, Norway as the youngest of 10 siblings. He was a son of pharmacist Johan Storm Bull (1787–1838) and his wife Anna Dorothea Borse Geelmuyden (1789–1875). He was a brother of violinist

Ole Bull Ole Bornemann Bull (; 5 February 181017 August 1880) was a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer. According to Robert Schumann, he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing. Biography Background Bull ...

and painter

Knud Bull Knud Geelmuyden Bull (10 September 1811 – 23 December 1889) was a Norwegian painter and counterfeiter. He studied as a painter, was convicted for printing false bank notes, and was deported from the United Kingdom to Australia during 184 ...

, an uncle of

Edvard Hagerup Bull Edvard Hagerup Bull (23 January 1855 – 25 March 1938) was a Norwegian jurist and assessor of the Supreme Court of Norway. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament and government official with the Conservative Party of Norway. Background E ...

and

Schak Bull Schak August Steenberg Bull (10 May 1858 – 25 January 1956) was a Norwegian architect. Personal life He was born in Årstad as the son of Colonel Jens Munthe Bull (1815-1905) and his wife Johanne Margrethe Hagerup (1817-1888). His brother E ...

, a granduncle of Sverre Hagerup Bull and a second cousin of

Johan Randulf Bull Johan Randulf Bull (29 April 1749 – 28 February 1829) was a Norwegian judge. He was born in Stod, as the brother of Johan Lausen Bull. He took the jurist examination in Copenhagen in 1778, and was a member of ''Det Norske Selskab'' there ...

and

Anders Sandøe Ørsted Bull Anders Sandøe Ørsted Bull (13 September 1817 – 15 April 1907) was a Norwegian civil servant and government minister. He served as acting Minister of the Army in 1875 (twice), 1881 and 1884. He also served as mayor of Oslo in 1877 and 1878. B ...

. Bull received drawing lessons in Bergen by the German born architect and painter Franz Wilhelm Schiertz (1813–1887) from 1843 to 1845. He then studied machine engineering at the Polytechnische Schule in Hannover from 1846 to 1850, and continued his studies in England. After his engineering studies he made archeological studies of Haakon's Hall in Bergen and other buildings dating from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, including twenty

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts ar ...

es. He studied architecture at the Berliner Bauakademie from 1855 to 1856. Georg Bull OB

Career

He started working as an architect in Kristiania during 1857, where his first significant work was '' Christiania Dampkjøkken''. After a major fire in Kristiania in 1858 he started planning the

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became ...

area

Homansbyen Homansbyen is a neighborhood in Frogner borough in Oslo, Norway. The area is named for the lawyer brothers Jacob (1816-1868) and Henrik Homan (1824-1900). Area The area is located between the streets of Pilestredet in the east, and Uranienbor ...

, where he also designed many of the buildings, during the period from 1858 to 1866. He was architect for the state railways ( Statsbanene) from 1863 to 1872. Bull's designs ranged from churches,

s and

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing ...

s to interiors and storehouses. Among his works are the two train stations in Oslo; Oslo Vestbanestasjon and Østbanen, and altogether about sixty train stations throughout the country. He designed railway stations of the Krøder Line, including the Krøderen Station (1872) and for the Kongsvinger Line at Åbogen (1865),

Matrand Matrand is a village in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located approximately south of the town of Kongsvinger and about north of the village of Skotterud. Matrand is approximately northwest of the border with ...

(1865) and

Magnor Magnor is a village in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located from the border with Sweden. The village lies along the Norwegian National Road 2 and the Kongsvingerbanen railway line. The municipal centre, Skot ...

(1865). For his brother Ole Bull, he designed a new farmhouse in the summer resort at Valestrandfossen in Osterøy (1865) and probably also his newer oriental-styled villa on

Lysøen Lysøen is an island in Bjørnafjorden in Vestland county, Norway. Lysøen is also the site of Villa Lysøen (''Ole Bulls villa på Lysøen''), the home of Norwegian violin-virtuoso and composer Ole Bull until his death in 1880. Villa Lysøen ...

in Os, outside Bergen ca. 1872. Bull was a board member of the Royal Danish Academy of Art 1869–84 and the National Gallery of 1869. He was a co-founder of the Norwegian Engineering and Architectural Association in 1874. Bull was a board member of the

Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments ( no, Fortidsminneforeningen) is an organization focused on conservation preservation in Norway. The Society was founded in 1844. The founders were painters, historians, art historians ...

from 1853 to 1864 and of

Christiania Theatre Christiania Theatre, or ''Kristiania Theatre'', was Norway's finest stage for spoken drama from 4 October 1836 (opening date) to 1 September 1899. It was located at Bankplassen by the Akershus Fortress, in central Christiania. It was the fir ...

from 1866. He was chairman for Selskabet for Christiania Byes Vel from 1904 to 1908. He was decorated Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1875 and was decorated Knight of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

Personal life

He was married to Emilie Constance Hjelm (1832–1926) with whom he had nine children. They were the parents of architect

Henrik Bull Henrik Bull (28 March 1864 – 2 June 1953) was a Norwegian architect and designer. Among his works are the Paulus Church at Grünerløkka in Oslo, the National Theater, the Historical Museum in Oslo, and the Government Building. He also d ...

. He died in the neighborhood of

Bestum Bestum is a neighbourhood in Ullern in Oslo, Norway. Before the residential area arose, Bestum was mainly an agricultural area. The name origins from the Middle Ages. Bestum was served by a station named "Bestun" and the tram stop Bestum, but ...

in the district of Ullern in Oslo during 1917.

Selected works

*Høle Church (''Høle kyrkje'') - 1858 *Vanylven Church (''Vanylven kyrkje'') - 1864 *Kragerø church (''Kragerø kirke'') - 1870 *Oslo West Station (''Vestbanestasjonen'') – 1872 *Koppang Station (''Gamle Koppang stasjon'')- 1875 *Oslo Central Station (''Østbanestasjonen'') - 1878 *St. James Church (''Jakob kirke'') - 1880

References

External links

Family genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Georg Andreas Architects from Bergen Norwegian expatriates in Germany 1829 births 1917 deaths Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog