By adopting the smooth facade of late antique and medieval church 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 Berlin, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Munich, Tübingen, and Völklingen.
Those in Berlin, Tübingen, Königs Wusterhausen, Crimmitschau, and Hersfeld are still extant, while the Bavarian station in Leipzig is partially preserved.
[5] 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.