(b Vienna, 20 July 1833; d Vienna, 4 Jan 1894). Austrian architect. He studied (1850–55) under Eduard Van der Nüll and August Sicard von Siccardsburg at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna. His earliest important designs were his entries in the two most prominent competitions in Vienna of the 1860s, for the Hofoper (1860–61) and the Hofmuseen (1867). His opera house proposal, distinguished by its boldness and richness of decoration, was placed third. Hasenauer’s participation in the planning of the imperial museums, however, brought him the chance to become one of the leading architects of the Ringstrasse (see VIENNA, §II, 3). Of the four museum projects submitted by various architects, none was accepted, and early in 1869 Gottfried Semper, as the leading authority on historicist architecture in Germany, was asked to examine the plans. Semper suggested connecting the separate museum buildings (for the art and natural history collections) to a new, enlarged Hofburg, thus forming a spacious forum of imperial grandeur. His earliest design for this ‘Kaiserforum’ also included a new Hofburgtheater (see SEMPER, GOTTFRIED, fig. 2). When Semper’s plan (1870; built 1871–89) was approved by Francis-Joseph, Emperor of Austria, Hasenauer, who was obviously most eager to be involved, succeeded in being appointed his assistant. Apparently because of Hasenauer’s great ambition, the relationship between him and Semper was so unharmonious that a formal agreement had to be made (1876) in order to settle each architect’s area of responsibility: Semper was entrusted with all artistic matters while Hasenauer supervised the construction and all technical and administrative works, a division that was maintained until Semper left Vienna (1877). Subsequently, Hasenauer slightly modified Semper’s designs, especially for the exedra of the Hofburg. The interiors of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (vestibule and main dome) and of the Burgtheater, where the smaller vestibules contain the finest interior decoration of the 1880s in Vienna, are considered to be entirely Hasenauer’s work. His last imperial commission (1881) was at Lainz, Emperor Francis-Joseph’s favourite game park near Schönbrunn, where he built the Hermesvilla as a refuge for Empress Elisabeth. It was a prominent example of the refined Picturesque villa architecture of its date. Apart from his major projects Hasenauer built little, exceptions being the Austro-Hungarian pavilions for the world expositions in Paris (1867; destr.) and Vienna (1873; destr.) and a few private buildings in Vienna, for example the Azienda-Hof (1868–9) and the Palais Lützow in Giselastrasse.

• Hasenauer, Karl
  • collaboration
    • Semper, Gottfried, §1: Life and architectural career
    • Vienna, §II, 3: Urban development, c 1800–1918
    • Vienna, §V, 5(i): Hofburg: Architecture
    • Weyr, Rudolf
  • pupils
    • Bauer, Leopold
    • Hoffmann, Josef, §1: Life and work
    • Urban, Joseph
  • works
    • Austria, §II, 4(ii): Architecture, 1790–1848
    • Austria, §II, 4(iii): Architecture, 1848–c 1890
    • Austria, §V, 3: Interior decoration, 1781–1897
    • Austria, §XIV, 1: Federal museums
    • Display of art, §I, 1: Top- and sidelighting
    • Museum, §II, 2: Architecture, 1850–1940
    • Palace, §II, 5: 19th and 20th centuries
    • Staircase, §I, 5: Modern