1855 in architecture

The year 1855 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

• October 15 - The second of the Prussia Columns is inaugurated, on the 60th birthday of their instigator, King Frederick William IV of Prussia.

Victoria Tower

Buildings completed

• The Palais de l'Industrie for the Exposition Universelle in Paris, France, mainly designed by the architect Jean-Marie-Victor Viel and the engineer Alexis Barrault.
• Église Saint-Eugène-Sainte-Cécile in Paris, designed by Louis-Auguste Boileau, is completed.
• Church of St John the Evangelist, Preston, Lancashire, England, designed by E. H. Shellard, is completed.
• The Old Stone Church (Cleveland, Ohio) in the United States, designed by Charles Heard and Simeon Porter.
• Church of Saint Bartholomew, Brugherio in Italy, rebuilt to the design of Giacomo Moraglia, is completed.
• St Mary's Cathedral, Killarney, Ireland (Roman Catholic), to the design of Augustus Pugin following his death.
• The Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, as The King's Tower, designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin.
• The original Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C., to the 1846 design of James Renwick, Jr.
• Fremantle Prison in Western Australia, opened.

Awards

• Royal Gold Medal - Jacques Ignace Hittorff.
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture - Honoré Daumet.

Palais de l'Industrie

Births

• May 12 - Alfred Gelder, English architect and politician active in Kingston upon Hull (died 1941)
• November 24 - Thomas Sully, self-trained American architect (died 1939)

Deaths

• March 3 - Robert Mills, American architect, designer of the Washington Monument (born 1781)
• March 11 - James Gillespie Graham, Scottish architect (born 1776)
• September 12 - John McCurdy, Irish architect, official architect to Trinity College, Dublin (born 1824)
• December 20 - Thomas Cubitt, English master builder (born 1785)