Richard Edward Raseman was born in Detroit on July 29, 1855, to German immigrants Carl Raseman and Minna Koch Raseman.

Over his career, he would have a hand in designing the Harmonie Club, Grand Army of the Republic Building, Trumbull Avenue Presbyterian Church, the Harmonie Club, the Breitmeyer-Tobin Building, Shed No. 2 in Eastern Market and the Cary Building, among many others.

He is noted for his use of heavy stone and a fondness for Richardsonian Romanesque-inspired designs, though he also worked in the Neoclassical, Gothic Revival and Beaux Arts styles.

About 1885, Raseman partnered with Julius Hess to form the architectural firm Hess & Raseman. They would build the Trumbull church, the former Municipal Court Building, the Perrien Brothers flouring mill, and the 1891 B’nai Israel synagogue, as a small sample. Their partnership dissolved about seven years later, and Raseman went solo.

It was during this period that the Harmonie Club; the Eloise Asylum in suburban Westland, Mich.; buildings for Nelson, Baker & Co., Edison Illuminating Co., National Biscuit Co., Buhl Stamping Works, Detroit White Lead Works and Michigan Alkali Co.; and an operating building for Harper Hospital. After Hess died in 1899, it was his former partner Raseman who completed his work on the Grand Army of the Republic Building.

In February 1903, Raseman and architect Reynolds Fisher formed the short-lived firm Raseman & Fisher, which designed the Breitmeyer-Tobin Building and Millwood Apartments in Detroit's Milwaukee Junction. The firm was ended around 1906, and Raseman went solo again.

Around 1920, Rasemen teamed up with one of his staff, Henry Freier, to form the firm Raseman & Freier. This firm would design the Swedish Crucible Steel Co. in Hamtramck, the Detroit Color Type Co. factory, the Capitol Brass Co. factory and a number of residences. With his son Richard P. Raseman following in his father's footsteps, the elder Raseman left his partnership with Freier in April 1928 to form Raseman & Raseman with his son. They would work together into the 1930s.

Raseman died in Detroit on Jan. 13, 1944, at age 89. He is interred at Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit.