Ybl, Miklós

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Ybl, Miklós, or Nikolaus von Ybl (1814–91). Austro-Hungarian architect, a pupil of Gärtner, In the 1840s he formed a partnership with Ágoston Polláck (1807–72), and designed numerous buildings in a Neo-Classical style influenced by Schinkel. His first major commission was for a church, school, mausoleum, and parsonage at Fót (1845–57), in a Rundbogenstil influenced by Gärtner's work in Munich. Numerous houses followed (e.g. the Unger House, 7 Muzeum Boulevard, Budapest (1852) ), and in the 1860s, like his contemporaries in Vienna, he turned to a Renaissance Revival style, as in the First National Savings Bank (1868) and the Customs and Excise Building (1870–4-now the School of Economics), both in Budapest. His greatest work in the Renaissance Revival style is the Opera House, Budapest (1875–84), much informed by developments on the Ringstrasse, Vienna. Influenced by his visit to the International Exhibition in London (1862), he designed two manor-houses at Parád (1862–88) and Parádsasvár (1880–2), both near Gyöngyös, and a Romanesque Revival parish-church, Bakáts Square, Budapest (1866–79). He carried out major works at the Royal Palace, Buda (from the 1860s), and worked on the building of the sumptuous basilica of St Stephen, Pest (1851–1906), after Hild's death.