The style was the deliberate creation of German architects seeking a German national style of architecture, particularly Heinrich Hübsch. It emerged in Germany as a response to and reaction against the neo-Gothic style that had come to the fore in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By adopting the smooth facade of late antique and medievalchurch architecture, it aimed to extend and develop the noble simplicity and quiet grandeur of neo-classicism, while moving in a direction more suited to the rise of industrialism and the emergence of German nationalism. Hallmarks of the style, in addition to the rounded arches from which it takes its name, include "eyebrows" over the windows and inverted crenelation under the eaves. Rundbogenstil was employed for a number of railway stations, including those in Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Munich, Tübingen, and Völklingen. These were typically "first-generation" stations ; some were razed to be replaced by larger buildings. Those in Tübingen and Völklingen are still extant, while the Bayerischer Bahnhof in Leipzig is partially preserved. Rundbogenstil was also widely employed in synagogue architecture. The first in this style was the Kassel Synagogue designed by Heinrich Hübsch with Albrecht Rosengarten, built in the latter's native city, Kassel, Hesse-Kassel, in 1839. An early example in the United States is the Gates of Heaven Synagogue in Madison, Wisconsin, built in 1863 and designed by August Kutzbock, an immigrant from Bremen, Germany. Kutzbock also designed secular buildings employing Rundbogenstil, such as the Carrie Pierce House in Madison. It was restored in 2008 and adapted for use as a boutique hotel, known as the Mansion Hill Inn. Rundbogenstil architecture was influential in England, with Alfred Waterhouse's buildings for what is now called the Natural History Museum in London showing a direct and self-conscious emulation of the style.
The Rundbogenstil was also widely employed in Belgium, for public buildings as well as for churches. A keen promotor of Neoclassiscism and the Rundbogenstil in Belgium was architect Lodewijk Roelandt, who lived in the city ofGhent. Among his achievements in Rundbogenstil are St Anne's Church, the riding school Arena Van Vletingen, both in Ghent, and the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-van-Bijstand-der-Christenenkerk at Sint-Niklaas.
