German architect, one of the most distinguished Neo-Classicists of his generation. A pupil of Jussow, he became Court Architect in Hanover in 1814 where he remodelled the Leineschloss (1817–35—destroyed, but rebuilt 1959–62), and designed the Bibliothek-Pavillon, Herrenhausen (1818–19), Wangenheim Palais (1829–33—which had a semicircular glazed winter-garden on the first floor), the Waterlooplatz and column (1825–32—influenced by Nash's developments in London), Opera House(1845–52—his greatest work), and Mausoleum at Herrenhausen (1842–6). He specialized in a Neo-Classical style derived from the work of Schinkel and Persius and in a half-century he transformed Hanover into a fine Neo-Classical capital-city to rival Berlin, but much of his work was destroyed in the 1939–45 war. He planned the Oststadt and Nordstadt suburbs of Hanover, and laid out the workers' estate at Linden (1853–4). His fine Ernst-August quarter (planned from 1843) was very grand and spacious (it is now the city centre), but very little of the fabric there today is by him. He was also involved in iron-and-glass construction, and made several designs for ‘crystal palaces’, including a proposal (1850) for a prefabricated structure at the London Exhibition of 1851 made out of old railway-lines. He invented (1839) a type of trussed beam that involved cutting a timber beam in two along its length, fixing each end together with straps, and placing blocks between the two parts so that the beam-truss ended up as convex on the top and bottom. Its advantage was that it was much stronger than it was before treatment, did not deflect much, and was extremely economical.
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