Karl Etzel

Karl Etzel was the son of the Stuttgart city planner Gottlieb Christian Eberhard von Etzel, the builder of the Neuen Weinsteige, a picturesque road in southeastern Stuttgart.

In 1835 Karl von Etzel worked on construction projects in France, including the Paris (Saint-Lazare)–Saint-Germain railway with the bridge over the Seine at Asnières (destroyed during the February Revolution of 1848 and later rebuilt).

Together with Ludwig Förster, he rebuilt the first Dianabad with a steel hall, making it the first indoor bath house in continental Europe.

He then created his most famous and greatest work in Austria, the Brenner Railway (1864–1867), although he did not live to see its completion.

He died on 2 May 1865 in Kemmelbach between Vienna and Linz of a second stroke during a train ride on a special train to Stuttgart-Cannstatt, where he wanted to retire to live in the Villa Etzel, which had been built and furnished to his designs.