Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Minnesota Humanities Center
Elizabeth Scheu Close: A Life in Modern Architecture
Jane King Hession, keynote speaker
This year’s annual meeting presentation features Jane King Hession, who will speak about her Gebhard Award-winning book Elizabeth Scheu Close: A Life in Modern Architecture.
Elizabeth “Lisl” Scheu Close (1912-2011), a pioneering woman in the field of architecture, left an indelible mark on Minnesota’s built landscape during her long career. In 1938, with her husband, architect Winston Close, she founded the first practice in the state dedicated to modern design. Over the next six decades, the firm designed more than 250 modern residences as well as medical and laboratory facilities.
Their “Opus One” was the 1938 Faulkner House, the first house in Minneapolis influenced by the International Style. In addition to custom homes, during the 1940s and ‘50s, Lisl designed prefabricated houses for the Page & Hill Company of Minnesota. She later estimated 10,000 houses were produced from her designs. In 1950 the US State Department sent one of her prefabs behind the Iron Curtain to serve as the “Model American Home” at the Berlin International Industrial Exposition. For her significant impact on the architecture of Minnesota, in 2002 she became the first woman to receive AIA Minnesota’s Gold Medal, the highest honor that organization bestows.
Today, Lisl is remembered for her prolific career as a residential architect, the scores of well planned, sensitively sited modern houses she designed, her service to her profession, and as an inspiration for subsequent generations of women architects who would follow in her footsteps.
Jane King Hession is an architectural historian and curator specializing in modernism. She earned her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota. Jane is a past president of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians.
Date and Place
Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Minnesota Humanities Center
987 Ivy Avenue East
Saint Paul, MN 55106
6:00 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. Annual Meeting
8:00 p.m. Keynote Presentation
9:00 p.m. Adjourn
Cost
$45.00 for MNSAH members
$55.00 for nonmembers
Registration
Deadline: Thursday, April 13, 2023
You may register online via Eventbrite, or mail your check and menu choice (payable to MNSAH) to:
MNSAH
c/o Bob Frame, Treasurer
178 Goodrich Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55102
Note: Members who wish to attend the annual meeting and presentation, but not the dinner, may do so at no cost. Please notify MNSAH at info@mnsah.org if you plan to attend only the meeting and presentation.
Menu
Chicken Escoffier
or
Butternut Squash and Wild Mushroom Lasagna
Dinners will be accompanied by a garden salad and dessert.
Directions
From Highway 35E, exit onto Maryland Avenue, proceed east 1.7 miles to Earl Street, turn left and go four blocks to Ivy Avenue East, turn left and the Humanities Center will be on your right.
