Heinrich Ernst Schirmer (27 August 1814 – 6 December 1887) was a German-born architect most noted for his work in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. Schirmer worked in Norway from 1838 to 1883 and left his mark on a number of public buildings. He contributed significantly to the introduction of the so-called Swiss architectural style in Norway, based partly on

Italian villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

style,

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

, and

neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism ...

Biography

Schirmer was born in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, Germany. He was the son of Johan Gottlieb Schirmer and Johanne Sophie Kühne. He was the father of architect Adolf Schirmer. He received his architectural education at art academies in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

from 1831 to 1834, and in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

from 1834 to 1837. In Munich he was influenced by German neoclassicist architect

Leo von Klenze Leo von Klenze (Franz Karl Leopold von Klenze; 29 February 1784, Buchladen (Bockelah / Bocla) near Schladen – 26 January 1864, Munich) was a German neoclassicist architect, painter and writer. Court architect of Bavarian King Ludwig I, L ...

and his nation-building and urban design ideas. Schirmer was construction manager for the rebuilding of the Oslo Cathedral between 1849 and 1850. In 1853 he entered into a partnership with fellow German-born architect

Wilhelm von Hanno Andreas Friedrich Wilhelm von Hanno (15 December 1826 – 12 December 1882) was a German-born Norwegian architect, sculptor and painter. He was among the leading architects in Norway during the middle of the 1800s. Biography Wilhelm von Hanno ...

. Their partnership lasted until 1864. Among their works were

Gaustad Hospital Gaustad Hospital ( no, Gaustad sykehus) is a psychiatric hospital in the neighborhood of Gaustad in Oslo, Norway. Founded in 1855, it is Norway's oldest purpose-built psychiatric hospital. It opened as the nation's first insane asylum designed a ...

, Tangen Church (1854), Vestre Aker Church (1853–1855) and Østre Aker Church (1857–1860). Schirmer and Hanno designed all stations on Norway's first railway line, the

Hoved Line In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each cli ...

between Christiania and

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information ...

, finished in 1854. His partnership with Hanno ended in 1864. Among Schirmer's later works are the designs of churches in

Øksendal Øksendal is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1854 until its dissolution in 1960. It had one of the smallest municipal populations in Norway. It was located in the northern part of the pre ...

(1864), Ørsta (1864), Fiskum (1866, burned 1902), Hareid (1877) and Vartdal (1877). Schirmer's first large commission was the restoration of the

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral ( no, Nidarosdomen / Nidaros Domkirke) is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of King Olav II (c. 995–1030, reigned 1015–1028), who became t ...

, which was then in ruins. He started his preliminary investigations in 1841, finished the drawings in 1845, and the reconstruction work started in 1869. Schirmer's last major works in Norway were the creation of the hospitals

Rikshospitalet Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet is one of the four main campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway. It was an independent hospital, ''Rigshospitalet'', later spelled ''Rikshospitalet'' ("The National Hospital"), from 1826 to 200 ...

, built between 1874 and 1883, and Ullevål Hospital from 1887.

Personal life

Schirmer was appointed a knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1860. Schirmer married Sophie Ottilia Major (1821–1861). They were the parents of architects Adolf Schirmer (1850–1930) and Herman Major Schirmer (1845–1913).

Gallery

File:Stabekk castle.jpg, Slottet at Ringstabekk in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

(1851) File:Moss Tollboden Moss.jpg, Cultural Heritage Building at Moss (1859) File:Hamar fengsel.jpg, Hamar Prison at

Hamar Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lak ...

in Hedmark (1864) File:Orsta kyrkje.JPG, Ørsta Church at Ørsta in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is t ...

(1864) File:Vartdalkyrkje2.jpg, Vartdal Church at Ørsta in

(1876)

References

External links

Nidaros Cathedral
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schirmer, Heinrich Ernst 1814 births 1887 deaths Architects from Leipzig 19th-century German architects Architects from Oslo German expatriates in Norway