Rafael Guastavino Roig

• Name — Rafael Guastavino III • Birth Name — Rafael Guastavino Expósito • Born — 12 May 1872 • Birthplace — Barcelona, Spain • Died — 19 October 1950 • Place of death — Bay Shore, New York, U.S. • Resting Place — St. Patrick Cemetery, Bay Shore, New York, U.S. • Spouse — Elsie S. Mann • Father — Rafael Guastavino

Guastavino was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1872, to Rafael Guastavino Sr. (1842–1908) and Paulina Roig. He was the third Rafael Guastavino, after his father and paternal grandfather, Rafael Guastavino Buch (1817–1875). Guastavino Sr. and his eight-year-old son arrived in New York City in 1881. The elder Guastavino had separated from his wife after he began an affair with the family's nanny, Francesca Ramirez, who traveled with them to the United States.

Guastavino Jr. was an apprentice to his father and mastered the art of tile vaulting. While Guastavino Jr. was working on the Biltmore Estate in the early 1890s, the family lived on Black Mountain, on an estate known as Rhododendron. By 1895, the younger Guastavino was gaining more of a role in the Guastavino Fire Proof Construction Company. Guastavino Sr. died in 1908 and was interred in a vault in the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Asheville, North Carolina, which he helped design alongside Richard Sharp Smith. It was completed the following year by Guastavino Jr., who was also working on projects in New York City (Cathedral of St. John the Divine), Boston (Boston Public Library), Pittsburgh and Baltimore. One of his most noted works was the Basilica Shrine of St. Mary in Wilmington, North Carolina, while he was also responsible for the Maxwell B. Chambers Memorial Building at Davidson College, Duke Chapel in Durham, the Centenary United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem and the Morehead–Patterson Bell Tower at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Guastavino married Elsie S. Mann, with whom he had two known children: Rafael Guastavino IV and Louise Gulden.

Guastavino died in Bay Shore, New York, in 1950, four years after the death of his stepmother. He was interred in St. Patrick Cemetery. His daughter was also buried there upon her death in 2004.

The authorities additionally record the headings Rafael Guastavino Expósito, Rafael Guastavino y Esposito and Rafael Guastavino III. His recorded languages were Catalan, English and Spanish. He was the child of Rafael Guastavino.

Rafael Guastavino Roig is recorded as artist, general contractor, architect and businessperson.