Oluf Nicolai Roll (25 October 1818 – 12 November 1906) was a Norwegian engineer, architect and politician. He was responsible for the industrial development of the area around the river Akerselva in Christiania, and served as Director General of Statens Havnevesen from 1861 to 1896.
In 1845 he founded the company Nydalens Compagnie together with Adam Hiorth, Hans Gulbranson and Ole Gjerdrum.[4] He was a board member from 1845 to 1868.[5] He contributed by designing all the buildings for the first spinning mill (1845–1847), and also at a later expansion in 1856 and the construction of a weaving mill in 1864.[1] Nydalens Compagnie developed into the largest textile company in Norway from the 1890s.[6] Roll has been called "Norway's first civil engineer", and also "a sort of a godfather to industrialism in Christiania."[7] The founding of Nydalens Companie has been said to signal the start of industrialization in Norway.[8]
In 1861 he was appointed Director General of Statens Havnevesen, a position he held until 1896. He was a member of the executive committee of the City Council of Christiania from 1856 to 1868. He was decorated Commander, Second Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1894, and was a Knight of the Order of Vasa.[1]
^ abMyhre, Jan Eivind (1990). Hovedstaden Christiania. Fra 1814 til 1900. Oslo bys historie (in Norwegian). Vol. 3. Oslo: Cappelen. p. 273. ISBN82-02-09144-6.