Their design failed to match the monumentality of the Heinrichshof opposite (destroyed in World War II, and in 1955 replaced by the Opernringhof). Criticism from both the Emperor and a press campaign against the pair of architects described the disappointment of the Viennese public and suggested that the building was merely a half-success. After the street level in front of the opera house was raised by a metre, the opera was described as the "sunken chest" and - in analogy to the military disaster of 1866 - "the Königgratz of Construction".