Friedrich August Stüler

Friedrich August Stüler was born at Mulhouse on 28 January 1800.
He attended the grammar school in his home city and in 1818 embarked on his studies at the Academy of Art and Architecture in Berlin.

In 1842 he was appointed Court Architect to Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. Friedrich Wilhelm IV suggested Stüler as the adviser for the remodelling and reconstruction of Schwerin Castle.
During this period Stüler was one of sharpest critics of the plans of the Chief Architect to the Court, Georg Adolf Demmler. From the start of the planning stage for the building works in 1843 to 1851 Demmler, as the Chief Architect to the Court, took the lead in the planning and execution of the new building works at the Castle.

After Demmler’s departure in 1851 Stüler was appointed architect in charge and in this capacity he added, among other things, the equestrian statue of Niklot and the golden ornamented cupola. Work on the rest of the façade was already too advanced at this point for other alterations to be undertaken. However, he provided terracotta portraits, on the lake-side façade of the Long House, of people who had rendered good service to the Castle. Stüler also directed the linkage of the two wings of the Orangery with an arcaded walk.

On 26 May 1857 the architects ceremonially transferred the keys of the Castle to the Grand Duke, with Stüler standing in the front row together with his supervisor of works, Hermann Willebrand. A commemorative volume about the Castle was published for the building’s inauguration ceremony; as one of the volume’s editors Stüler supplied among other things various ground plans, sectional views and other architectural drawings. Friedrich Franz II also honoured him with a commemorative gold medal for his services to the Castle.

Before working at Schwerin Stüler had been an architect to the Prussian Court and had undertaken study trips to France, Italy and Russia. In 1832 he was appointed Chief Architect to the Prussian Court and Director of the Castle Building Committee and from 1834 he taught at the Academy of Architecture at Berlin. In 1841 he, alongside Ludwig Persius, became one of the architectural advisers to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who had been crowned King in 1840. In 1842 Stüler undertook a study tour to England and in that same year he succeeded Schinkel as Royal Architect.
Following the death of Ludwig Persius in 1845 Stüler remained the King’s only architectural adviser. After 1848 he was still working on various major building projects such as the Hohenzollenburg at Hechingen and the University of Königsberg.
He died at Berlin on 18 March 1865.

Written by Martin Funk, Voluntary Social Year 2016/17.

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