The First Complete Frame Structure Made of Cast Iron in Prussia

"Iron Architecture" emerged after about 1780, in Germany after about 1800 when the new material opened new options to design advanced constructions. In the beginning, only cast iron was available. Besides the material, extraordinary architects/engineers were needed to apply the new material to adequate constructions. In Prussia, F. A. Stüler was the most ingenious architect to understand the potential of cast iron, and just at the beginning of his dealing with cast iron, he created the very light construction of the ceilings of Neues Museum, Berlin, and, on the other hand, the relatively heavy ceiling construction of the Great Hall of the rebuilding of the Luther-Haus in Wittenberg/Elbe, both in the 1840s. The latter one is the subject of the paper.