Elizabeth "Lisl" Close, (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Scheu; 4 June 1912, in Vienna – 29 November 2011, in Minneapolis) was an influential female architect practicing in Minnesota. During her long partnership with her husband, Winston "Win" Close (1906-1997), she designed many notable public buildings and private homes while managing the family firm for extended periods.

Early life

Born in 1912 in Vienna, Austria, to and Helene Scheu ''née'' Riesz, Elizabeth Scheu grew up in a house designed by Adolf Loos in 1913, an early practitioner of modern architecture. Artists were frequent guests in the home, including

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

and John Gunther. She became interested in architecture, in which she graduated at the

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ) ...

in Vienna. Perhaps because she had a Jewish mother, she left Austria in August 1932—before the arrival of the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

—sailing aboard the SS ''American Merchant'' from London, and arrived in New York on 29 August 1932. She completed her education in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

with an M.A. in architecture at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1935.

Career and marriage

While she was studying in Boston, Close met her future husband, Winston Close, who was also a graduate student. It was not easy for women to enter the architecture profession at the time; after being rejected by two firms, she accepted an appointment by the third and started work in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, working under architect

Oscar Stonorov Oscar Gregory Stonorov (December 2, 1905 – May 9, 1970) was a modernist architect and architectural writer, historian and archivist who emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1929. His first name is often spelled "Oskar". Early life Sto ...

. In 1936, she joined the firm in Minneapolis where Winston was employed, Magney and Tusler. They established their own firm, Close and Scheu Architects, in 1938, building flat-roofed, streamlined homes. Winston and Elizabeth Close married in 1938, at which time her professional status was so unusual that the local paper ran an article titled "Architect Weds Architect." Elizabeth kept her maiden name until she became pregnant in 1940, when convention required her to adopt her husband's name.Mary Abbe, "A modern woman who made modern buildings"
''StarTribune'', December 2, 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2012. Elizabeth ran the family firm while her husband was away during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and from 1950 to 1971 when he was head architect to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. Architectural historian Jane King Hession says of Close: "By her example she inspired many women in architecture, myself included, but she didn't want to be known as a woman architect -- just as an architect who happened to be a woman." Close was known for designing buildings that have flat roofs, unpainted redwood or cedar siding, and large windows. In 2002, Close was awarded the Minnesota Gold Medal, a lifetime achievement award by the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to ...

(AIA); this is the highest honor given to an individual by the local branch.

Death and legacy

Elizabeth Close died on 29 November 2011 at Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a role model for a generation of women wishing to practice architecture in a male-dominated profession. In 2020, the University of Minnesota Press published the biography ''Elizabeth Scheu Close: A Life in Modern Architecture.'' An accompanying exhibit was on display at the University of Minnesota until the campus was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Selected works

* 1953 Close family home in the University Grove neighborhood (1588 Fulham Street) near the University of Minnesota *Ferguson Hall, the music building on the University of Minnesota's West Bank campus * Gray Freshwater Biological Institute, on

Lake Minnetonka Lake Minnetonka (Dakota: ''Mní iá Tháŋka'') is a lake located about west-southwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lake Minnetonka has about 23 named bays and areas. The lake lies within Hennepin and Carver counties and is surrounded by 13 in ...

* 1948 Rood House, designed for sculptor John Rood in Minneapolis' Kenwood neighborhood * Duff house in

Wayzata, Minnesota Wayzata ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Wayzata is situated along the northern shore of Lake Minnetonka about west of Minneapolis. Known for its small-town character and lakeside lo ...

* Fourteen houses in the

University Grove University Grove is a neighborhood of Falcon Heights, Minnesota, known for its 103 homes individually designed by architects. Owners have been required to use an architect since the neighborhood's creation by the University of Minnesota in 1 ...

neighborhood near University of Minnesota * Whiting House, 1950, Owatonna, MN (622 E School St) * Stokes House addition, 1976, Minneapolis, MN * Thunderhead house, 1957, Cook, MN

References

External links

Close Associates website

The Residential Architecture of Winston and Elizabeth Close
{{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Elizabeth 1912 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American architects American women architects Architects from Minneapolis Architects from Vienna 20th-century American women 21st-century American women Austrian emigrants to the United States