Förster, Ludwig Christian Friedrich

Förster, Ludwig Christian Friedrich, b. Ansbach (Germany), Oct. 8, 1797, d. Bad Gleichenberg (Styria), June 16, 1863, architect and entrepreneur, father of the architects Heinrich and Emil von Förster, central personage of Austrian historicism. Studied in Munich and Vienna, where he worked as a corrector from 1820-1826 and as a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1842-1845. From 1861-1863 municipal councillor and from 1828 head of a lithographic institute. Later started a zinc foundry and founded a newspaper, the "Allgemeine Bauzeitung" in 1836, which for several decades was the most important medium for publication in the field of architecture throughout the monarchy. From 1839/40 worked as a free-lance architect. Among those who worked in his atelier was O. Wagner. From 1846-1852 F. cooperated with his son-in-law, Baron T. von Hansen. F. actively supported young artists and strongly promoted technological innovations in Vienna. From 1836 focused on urban development projects and played an important role in planning the Vienna Ringstraße. Apart from residential buildings and office buildings, a number of other projects, including the synagogues in Wien-Leopoldstadt (1858, destroyed in 1938), Budapest (1859) and Miskolc (1863) merit attention.

Further projects: Vienna: Evang. Church Gumpendorf (1849), cooperation in the Arsenal project, Elisabethbrücke, a bridge (1854, pulled down in 1897), Todesco Palace (1863). - Villa Pereira, Königstetten (1849); Augarten casino, Brno (1855).