Melchior Rasp
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Melchior Rasp | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 January 1715 |
| Died | 19 March 1785 (aged 70) |
| Resting place | God's Acre Cemetery |
Melchior Rasp (8 January 1715 – 19 March 1785) was an Austrian master mason. He built several notable buildings in the Moravian community in today's Old Salem, North Carolina. These buildings are some of the few that have survived.[1]
Rasp is described as having played an important role in the early Moravian architecture in Old Salem over three decades.[1] His most notable work is the Single Brothers' House, built in the fachwerk (or half-timbered) style in 1769.[2]
Rasp was born in the Austrian capital of Salzburg early in the new year of 1715.[3] He worked in the salt works as a child, before moving to the Netherlands at the age of fifteen. From there, he moved again, to Frankfurt am Main, where he began to learn the trade of a mason.[1]
In the 1740s, he was living in the Moravian town of Herrnhag, where he joined the local congregation.[1]
Career
In 1750, Rasp emigrated to Bethlehem in the Pennsylvania Colony. He remained there for five years, then moved to Wachovia, Province of North Carolina, around the same time as carpenter Christian Triebel.[1]
Rasp was one of eight men selected to move to nearby Old Salem to begin constructing the settlement's buildings, with material brought in from Bethabara.[1]
Johann Gottlob Krause became Rasp's apprentice in March 1781. In October 1782, Krause became a journeyman under Rasp.[1]
Selected works
Rasp was responsible for the construction of the following buildings:[1]
- Nazareth Hall, Nazareth, Pennsylvania (1752)
- Single Brothers' House, Old Salem, North Carolina (1769)