The New International Encyclopædia/Schmidt, Friedrich

SCHMIDT, Friedrich, Baron (1825-91). A distinguished architect, born at Frickenhofen, Württemberg. He studied under Breymann and Mauch in the Polytechnic at Stuttgart. At the age of eighteen he obtained work as a mason on the cathedral at Cologne, where after two years he became a master mason. In 1857 he was called to the Milan Academy as professor, and was awarded the contract for restoring the Church of Sant' Ambrogio. In 1859 he settled in Vienna, was appointed professor at the academy in 1860, architect of Saint Stephen's in 1863, and was raised to a baronetcy in 1888. His principal buildings in Vienna are the church of the Lazarists (1860-62), the parish church at Fünfhaus (1864-74), the gymnasium (1863-66), and the new city hall (1872-83), his most imposing work. He was one of the most eminent exponents of the Gothic style in German architecture. Consult Reichensperger, Zur Charakteristik des Baumeisters Friedrich Freiherrn von Schmidt (Düsseldorf, 1891).