Carl von Effner


Carl von Effner, also Karl von Effner, Carl Joseph von Effner and Carl Effner was gardener to the Bavarian court, later Königlich Bayerischer Hofgärtendirektor, and landscape gardener.

Family background

Carl von Effner was descended from the Effner family, who for many years were gardeners in the service of the Bavarian royal court. He was great-grandson of the distinguished architect and builder Joseph Effner

Life

He was born as Carl Effner in Munich, son of Carl Effner , Senior Bavarian Court Gardener. After a gardening apprenticeship he made various study visits to Vienna, Paris, England and Sanssouci, where he also became familiar with the "mixed style" of garden design of the well-known Prussian landscape architect Peter Joseph Lenné involving the formation of regular areas of formal ornamental garden within wider areas of landscaped garden, which enjoyed a revival in the mid-19th century.
On these study trips he was accompanied by Max Kolb, the later Inspector of the Botanical Gardens, Nymphenburg.
In 1857 Maximilian II recalled him to Munich and at the early age of 26 appointed him Court Gardener. From 1860 to 1865 he was active as representative of the Senior Court Gardener on the staff of the Obersthofmarschall. Maximilian made Effner responsible for the landscaping of the banks of the Isar between Haidhausen and Bogenhausen and for the garden element of the Maximilianstrasse designed by Friedrich Bürklein.
In 1868 Effner was appointed Head Court Gardener, and director of all Bavarian court gardens, by the Bavarian Regent Ludwig II.
In 1870 Ludwig II, by that time king, made Effner Royal Inspector of Court Gardens and in 1873 Royal Director of Court Gardens. He now designed the gardens for Ludwig II's castles, Neues Schloss, Herrenchiemsee, and Linderhof.
He also designed numerous private gardens in Bavaria.
He sometimes worked on the earlier gardens with his father.
In 1877 he was raised to the nobility. He died in Munich on 22 October 1884 and is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof.

Selected works