1885 in architecture

The year 1885 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

 * May – The original wooden structures of Hobson Block, West Union, Iowa, USA, are destroyed by fire, leading to construction of the present building.
 * W. D. Caröe is appointed architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England.
 * Construction of the Altare della Patria (Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II) in Rome, designed by Giuseppe Sacconi, begins; it will not be completed until 1925.

Buildings opened

 * July 13 – New building for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, designed by Pierre Cuypers.
 * November 30 – London Pavilion variety theatre, designed by Robert Worley and James Ebenezer Saunders.
 * December 27 – Church of St. Peter, Leipzig, designed by August Hartel and Constantin Lipsius.
 * Castle Hotel, Conwy, Wales.
 * Church of Saint Anthony of Padua, Busovača, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
 * Vestermarie Church, Bornholm, Denmark.
 * Metropole Hotel, London, designed by Francis Fowler and James Ebenezer Saunders.

Buildings completed

 * Autumn – The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois, designed by William Le Baron Jenney. With ten floors and a fireproof weight-bearing metal frame, it is regarded as the first skyscraper.
 * Academy of Athens (Greece), designed by Theophil Hansen in 1859.
 * Holloway Sanatorium near Virginia Water in England, designed by William Henry Crossland.
 * Sway Tower in Hampshire, England, designed by Andrew Peterson using concrete made with Portland cement. It remains the world's tallest non-reinforced concrete structure.
 * House for Kate Greenaway, Frognal, London, designed by Richard Norman Shaw.
 * Elmside (house), Grange Road, Cambridge, England, designed by Edward Prior.
 * Rebuilt Framingham Railroad Station in Framingham, Massachusetts, designed by H. H. Richardson.

Awards

 * RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Heinrich Schliemann.
 * Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: François Paul André.

Births

 * February 23 – Yoshikazu Uchida, Japanese architect and structural engineer (died 1972)
 * July 13 – Adolf Behne, German art historian, architectural writer and leader of the Avant Garde movement (died 1948)
 * July 15 – Josef Frank, Austrian-born architect and designer (died 1967)
 * July 29 – Sigurd Lewerentz, Swedish architect and furniture designer (died 1975)
 * August 13 – Charles Howard Crane, American architect (died 1952)
 * August 30 – Paul Gösch, German Expressionist artist, architect, lithographer and designer (died 1940)
 * September 22 – Gunnar Asplund, Swedish "Nordic Classicist" architect (died 1940)
 * December 5 – Ernest Cormier, Canadian engineer and architect (died 1980)
 * December 17 – Wells Coates, Canadian architect, designer and writer (died 1958)
 * December 28 – Vladimir Tatlin, Russian painter and architect (died 1953)

Deaths

 * February 1 – Henri Dupuy de Lôme, French naval architect (born 1816)
 * March 9 – Matthew Ellison Hadfield, English Victorian Gothic architect (born 1812)
 * May 22 – Théodore Ballu, French architect of public buildings (born 1817)
 * May 28 – Horace King, US architect, engineer, and bridge builder.
 * June 14 – William Tinsley, US-based Irish architect (born 1804)
 * August 1 – Thomas Leverton Donaldson, British architect, co-founder and President of the Royal Institute of British Architects
 * August 24 – Eduard Riedel, German architect and Bavarian government building officer (born 1813)
 * September 2 – Giuseppe Bonavia, Maltese architect (born 1821)
 * November 16 – Frederick Ernst Ruffini, US architect (born 1851)