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

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 Nor ...

Biography

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

Surnadal Municipality 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 Bøverfjorden, Glærem, Moen, Stangvik, Surnadalsøra, Sylte, T ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. 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 The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The Unicameralism, unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list propo ...

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 () is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norway, Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. The area comprises the northern third of the county including the List of municipalities of Norway, municipalities of Kristiansund Mu ...

, three of which followed drawings by the famous architect

. In 1874, the Scheistrøen made original drawings for the new

Sømna Church Sømna Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sømna Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Vik i Helgeland. It is the church for the Sømna parish which is part of the Sør-Helgeland prosti (d ...

Helgeland Helgeland is the most southerly Districts of Norway, district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet moun ...

. 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 or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

and

Swiss chalet style Swiss chalet style (, ) is an architectural style of Historicism (art), Late Historicism, originally inspired by rural chalets in Switzerland and the Alps, Alpine (mountainous) regions of Central Europe. The style refers to traditional building d ...

, 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

Surnadal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the village of Skei, Møre og Romsdal, Skei. Other ...

Namsos Namsos may refer to: Places *Namsos Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway *Namsos (town) Namsos is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the administrative center of Namsos Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. ...

. The churches he designed and built in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

and

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

after moving, were built using a similar design to what he used for the

. 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