The year 1881 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Buildings and structures

Buildings

• Alþingishúsið in Reykjavík, Iceland, designed by Ferdinand Meldahl, is opened to house the Althing (national parliament)
• British Museum (Natural History) in London, England, designed by Alfred Waterhouse, is opened^[1]
• Founder's Building at Royal Holloway College, Egham in England, designed by William Henry Crossland, is completed
• Tweed Courthouse is completed by Leopold Eidlitz in New York City
• The National Theatre (Prague), designed in 1865–68 by Josef Zítek, is opened officially
• Construction of St Stephen's Church, Bournemouth, England, designed by John Loughborough Pearson, is begun

Awards

• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – George Godwin.
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: Henri Deglane.

Births

• March 29 – Raymond Hood, American Art Deco architect (died 1934)
• August 2 – Walter Godfrey, English architectural historian and architect (died 1961)
• date unknown – Nikolai Ladovsky, Russian avant-garde architect and educator, leader of the rationalist^[2] movement in 1920s architecture (died 1941)

Deaths

• January 25 – Konstantin Thon, official architect of Imperial Russia during the reign of Tsar Nicholas (born 1794)
• April 20 – William Burges, English architect and designer (born 1827)^[3]
• December 14 – Decimus Burton, English architect and garden designer (born 1800)
• December 18 – George Edmund Street, English architect (born 1824)