Ole Olsen Scheistrøen (16 August 1833 – 4 February 1921) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and builder. Scheistrøen had no formal architectural education and he, in fact, referred to himself as a builder and not an architect. However, he designed about 50 Norwegian churches, in addition to designing twelve churches after drawings by other architects, including six by

Jacob Wilhelm Nordan Jacob Wilhelm Nordan (23 February 1824 – 11 April 1892) was a Danish-born, Norwegian architect. During his career, he was one of the most prolific church architects in Norway. Biography Nordan was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and came to Norw ...

Biography

Ole Olsen Scheistrøen was born on 16 August 1833 in the village of Skei (historically spelled ''Schei'') in what is now the municipality of

Surnadal Surnadal () is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Skei. Other villages in Surnadal include Glærem, Mo, Stangvik, Surnadalsøra, Sylte, Todalsø ...

in Møre og Romsdal county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. He was born to Ole Olsen Scheistrøen and Rannei Pedersdatter Øyan. In 1864, he married Maria Jakobsdatter Otnes. He died in the town of Namsos on 4 February 1921.

Career

Scheistrøen learned the trade from his father, a farmer and a carpenter; working together with him until around 1863. Then he worked as an independent builder. In 1851 the Storting adopted a new law on the expansion of churches and cemeteries. A requirement in the law was that all churches should accommodate at least 30% of the members in the parish. This requirement prompted many existing churches to be rebuilt, expanded, or replaced by new ones. This new law gave architects and construction managers a lot of new work for decades to come. From 1863 until 1874, Scheistrøen built four churches in

Nordmøre Nordmøre (English: North- Møre) is a traditional district in the Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. The area comprises the northern third of the county including the municipalities of Kristiansund, Averøy, Tingvoll, Surnadal, Aure, Halsa ...

, three of which followed drawings by the famous architect

. In 1874, the Scheistrøen made original drawings for the new Sømna Church in Helgeland. This was the first church he designed himself. It was a simple timber church with decorative details in

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and Swiss chalet style, strongly inspired by Nordan's architecture. Several of the churches that Scheistrøen later designed were similar with slight variations to the Nordan buildings he had worked on Nordmøre when he first started out as an architect. In 1884, Scheistrøen and his wife moved from

Namsos ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kl ...

. The churches he designed and built in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denma ...

and Northern Norway after moving, were built using a similar design to what he used for the Sømna Church. Scheistrøen participated in the rebuilding of the town of Namsos after the fire of 1897 but most of his work there was lost during the bombing of Namsos in 1940.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheistroen, Ole Olsen 1833 births 1921 deaths 19th-century Norwegian architects 19th-century Norwegian people Architects of Lutheran churches