Nüll, Eduard van der (1812–68). Austrian architect, involved in the Rundbogenstil fashion of the 1840s. He assisted Johann Georg Müller in the design and erection of the Altlerchenfeld Church, Vienna (1848–61), a brick structure in a pronounced and convincing Italian round-arched style with two western towers and an octagonal cupola, and fine Historicist interior (the designs for which van der Nüll was responsible). He teamed up with Siccardsburg to design the Carl-Theater, Vienna (1847—destroyed— which had rich C14 and C15 Italian Renaissance details on its main façade). In 1849 they won the competition to design the main buildings of the huge military complex south of Vienna: the Kommandantur-Gebäude (Comman-dant's Building), with its massive crenellations and enormous central gateway (1849–56) is entirely their work, but others realized much of the rest. In 1860 they won the competition to design the Hofoper (Court Opera House, now Staatsoper (State Opera) (1860–9) ) on the new Ringstrasse, the most prominent feature of which is the large block containing the auditorium and fly-tower. However, for the external treatment they selected a free French early-Renaissance style, which is rather weak and uninspired, and was severely criticized during construction. The adverse reaction may have led to van der Nüll's suicide, and Siccardsburg followed him to the grave only two months later: they had been friends and colleagues since 1828, both winning prizes and travelling scholarships, and doing much to set the architectural tone of major buildings in Vienna and the main cities of the Empire from c.1850 (their Opera House (gutted 1945— reopened 1955) influenced those of both Prague (1868–81) and Budapest (1875–84) ). They also proposed the Vienna International Exhibition of 1873, which was realized by Hasenauer.

Bibliography

Auer (1885);
Eitelberger (1879);
H-C. Hoffmann (1972);
ZdÖIuAV, lxv (1913), 833–7, 849–55

van der Nüll, Eduard (1812–68). See Nüll.