CLOSE ASSOCIATES, LLC
architecture that endures.
est. 1938
GAR HARGENS AIA, PRESIDENT
Gar Hargens began working at Close Associates in 1968 when he came to Minnesota for architectural school. Gar was graduated from Wesleyan University in 1965 and received a Master of Architecture from the University of Minnesota. For ten years, Gar was an adjunct member of the graduate and undergraduate design faculty at the College of Design at the U of M and directed the Advocacy Studio, working with Twin Cities neighborhoods.
A member of the American Institute of Architects and NCARB, Gar has been Chair of the St. Paul Heritage Preservation Commission, President of Second Southeast Corp and a past board member of the MacPhail Center for the Performing Arts, the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, Historic Saint Paul, and the Franconia Sculpture Park. He helped found and design the first four phases of the Ronald McDonald House in the Twin Cities and form and lead the Pratt Council, a nonprofit organization created to save and manage Pratt School (Minneapolis Public School’s oldest building).
Gar became a Principal and owner in 1980. Since 1988, he has been sole owner of the firm. Gar lives in an 1888 Portland Terrace row house in Saint Paul designed by Cass Gilbert and is a life long runner.
These are tales of some of what went on behind the scenes on projects by Close Associates starting with my arrival in 1968. Most folks see only the glossy final photos and glowing descriptions of published architectural projects. It’s estimated only 1% of Americans have ever worked with an architect so there is little public understanding of how good buildings come to be and the owners’/users’ role in their creation.
To respect the privacy of participants living and dead, I’ve omitted names. Perhaps that also helps readers more easily put themselves in some of these situations.
