1863 in architecture

• January 10 – The Metropolitan Railway, London, England, is opened, the world's first underground railway (engineer: John Fowler). • December 2 – The Statue of Freedom is set on top of the new dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. • date unknown • The École des Beaux-Arts in Paris becomes independent of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. • William Burges is declared winner of the competition to design the new Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork (Church of Ireland), his first major commission. ==Buildings and structures==

Buildings opened • March 2 – Clapham Junction railway station, London. • October 18 – Befreiungshalle memorial above Kelheim in Bavaria, designed by Friedrich von Gärtner and completed by Leo von Klenze, is inaugurated. • October 27 – Leeuwarden railway station in the Netherlands, designed by Charles van Brederode. • December 13 – Gulen Church, Eivindvik, Norway, designed by Georg Andreas Bull, consecrated by Dean Thomas Erichsen. Buildings completed • Berns Salonger, Stockholm, Sweden. • Smíchov Synagogue, Prague, Czech Republic. • Kelham Hall near Newark-on-Trent, England, designed by George Gilbert Scott. ==Awards==

• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Anthony Salvin. • Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: . ==Births==

• April 3 – Henry van de Velde, Belgian painter, architect and interior designer (died 1957) • May 17 – C. R. Ashbee, English interior designer (died 1942) • October 21 – Sir George Troup, New Zealand architect, engineer and statesman (died 1941) • December 16 – Ralph Adams Cram, American architect of academic and ecclesiastical buildings (died 1942) • W. G. R. Sprague, Australian-born British theatre architect (died 1933) ==Deaths==

• June 16 – Ludwig Förster, Austrian religious architect (died 1797) • September 17 – Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect, archaeologist and writer (born 1788) • October 9 – Andrew Egan, Irish architect and builder (born c.1810) • October 28 – William Cubitt, English building and civil engineering contractor and politician (born 1791) • December 29 – Joseph John Scoles, English Catholic architect (born 1798) ==References==