1856 in architecture

The year 1856 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Buildings opened

 * February – State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, designed by Joseph Reed
 * May 15 – Rumeli Feneri, Istanbul, Turkey
 * August 31 – The Esztergom Basilica in Hungary, designed by Pál Kühnel and József Hild (consecrated)
 * October 4 – Lindau Lighthouse, Bavaria
 * November 1 – Stamford Water Street railway station in Lincolnshire, England, designed by William Hurst

Buildings completed

 * Debating chambers of Parliament House, Melbourne, Australia, designed by General Charles Pasley
 * Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, Turkey.
 * Landherrnamt, Bremen, Germany, designed by Alexander Schröder in the Neo-Romanesque style
 * Walnut Hall, Toronto, Canada, designed by John Tully as O'Donohoe Row (demolished 2007)

Events

 * Future English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy is apprenticed to architect James Hicks in Dorchester, Dorset.

Awards

 * RIBA Royal Gold Medal – William Tite.
 * Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: Edmond Guillaume.

Births

 * January 7 – Sydney Mitchell, Scottish architect (died 1930)
 * January 21 – Gustaf Nyström, Finnish architect (died 1917)
 * February 12 – Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dutch architect (died 1934)
 * August 5 – Axel Berg, Danish architect (died 1929)
 * September 3 – Louis Sullivan, American architect, "father of skyscrapers" (died 1924)
 * September 23 – John Bilson, English architect and architectural historian (died 1943)
 * October 30 – Edward Prioleau Warren, English architect (died 1937)
 * December 20 – Reginald Blomfield, English architect (died 1942)
 * date unknown – Eugène Vallin, French architect, furniture designer and manufacturer (died 1922)

Deaths

 * March 20 – Robert Reid, King's architect and surveyor for Scotland from 1827 to 1839 (born 1774)
 * March 27 – David Laing, British architect (born 1774)