born Oct. 21, 1830, Ansbach, Bavaria 【Germany】

died March 3, 1895, Munich, Ger.

German architect, one of the builders of three grandiose curiosities sponsored by the mentally ill king Louis (Ludwig) II (Louis II) of Bavaria: Linderhof (1869–78), Neuschwanstein (Neuschwanstein Castle) (1869–86), and Herrenchiemsee (1878–85; incomplete). The neo-Baroque or neo-Rococo Linderhof is especially incongruous in its mountainous setting. Neuschwanstein, which was begun for Ludwig by Eduard Riedel, was intended to suggest the medieval Teutonism of Richard Wagner (Wagner, Richard)'s opera Tannhäuser (1845). Herrenchiemsee was planned as a replica of the French royal residence at Versailles (Versailles, Palace of).