Background
Close, Elizabeth Scheu was born on June 4, 1912 in Vienna, Austria. Daughter of Gustav and Helene (Riesz) Scheu. came to the United States, 1932, naturalized, 1938.
Close, Elizabeth Scheu was born on June 4, 1912 in Vienna, Austria. Daughter of Gustav and Helene (Riesz) Scheu. came to the United States, 1932, naturalized, 1938.
Student, Technische Hochschule, Vienna, 1932. Bachelor of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1934. Master in Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1935.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), U Minnesota, 2003.
Artists were frequent guests in the home. Perhaps because she had a Jewish mother, she left Austria in August 1932—before the arrival of the Nazis—sailing aboard the Steamship American Merchant from London and arrived in New York on 29 August 1932, completing her education in Boston with an Master of Arts in architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1935. lieutenant 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.
In 1936, she joined the firm in Minneapolis where Winston was employed. They established their own firm, Close and Scheu Architects, in 1938, building flat-roofed, streamlined homes.
She was the architect behind many projects including private homes, the Gray Freshwater Biological Institute in Navarre, Minnesota, and Ferguson Hall, the music building on the University of Minnesota"s West Bank campus. The architectural historian Jane King Hession, who is writing a book about Close, remarked: "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."
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.
Board directors Civic Orchestra Minneapolis, 1951-1968. Board directors Minnesota Opera Company. Past president New Friends Chamber Music.
Member Commission on Minnesota's Future. Fellow American Institute of Architects (director Minneapolis chapter 1964-1969, jury of Fellows 1986-1987, recipient Gold medal Minnesota chapter, 2002). Member Minnesota Society Architects (president, Honor award 1975), Minnesota History Society (jury building competition 1986).
Married Winston A. Close, 1938. Children: Anne Miriam Close Ulmer, Roy Michel, Robert Arthur.
