Roar Tønseth (1895—1985) was a Norwegian

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 ...

. He had an unusually long career as an architect, stretching from before 1920 to the early 1980s. Roar Tønseth was the son of Johannes Tønseth (1860-1896) and Henrikke Ryjord (1869-1940). His uncle was architect

Nils Ryjord Nils Ryjord (1875—1926) was a Norwegian architect. He designed several churches, but spent the majority of his career working on the restoration of the historic Nidaros Cathedral. Ryjord completed his education at the Norwegian Institute o ...

, who, in addition to his own architectural practice, played a key role in the restoration work at Nidaros Cathedral. Tønseth married Anna Bolette ('Annikken') Aschenberg in 1926. After graduating with his

examen artium Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1 ...

, Roar Tønseth became a bricklayer apprentice to his uncle Nils Ryjord in 1913. The following year, he began studying

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at the Norwegian University of Technology. He graduated as an architect in 1919. From 1919 to 1921, Tønseth was then employed as an assistant to Professor

Olaf Nordhagen Johan Olaf Brochmann Nordhagen (16 March 1883 – 6 November 1925) was a Norwegian educator, architect, engineer and artist. He is most commonly associated with his restoration designs for Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. Biography Olaf ...

and architect Morten Anker Bachke. Starting in 1921, he worked for two years as an assistant to architect Claus Hjelte. In 1923, Tønseth started his own architectural practice in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. He designed many buildings and is notable for the number of church buildings and tourist cabins that he designed. Roar Tønseth won first prize in a number of architectural competitions during his career. Roar Tønseth was arrested and imprisoned by the occupation authorities during World War II. He was arrested on 1 March 1943 at Vollan. On 5 July 1943 he was transferred to Falstad prison camp, and on 18 March 1944 he was transferred to Grini prison camp outside Oslo, where he was held captive until peace came in May 1945. In 1937, Tønseth was elected to the board of Trondheim's Art Association, a position he continued in after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. From 1945 to 1947 he was the chairman of the association. From 1938 to 1950 he was also a member of the board of the Trondheim Museum of Art and Design.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonseth, Roar 1895 births 1985 deaths Architects from Trondheim Vollan concentration camp survivors Falstad concentration camp survivors Grini concentration camp survivors