Known for modern architecture, Close Associates has always designed interiors and lately historic restorations. Gar Hargens is a registered interior designer. He just completed nine years on the Saint Paul's Heritage Preservation Commission. Dick and Nancy Nicholson were interested in restoring their house at 260 Summit Avenue in Saint Paul but also in modernizing it. For example, missing brass sconces in the dining room were replicated, but the individual pull chains that controlled them were replaced with an electronic system that broadcasts fixture control, music, and telephone throughout the house. The main floor serving kitchen was converted into the family kitchen. The laundry became a 2 1/2 stall interior garage. Bedrooms and baths that had been carved up over time were restored. Plaster moldings that had been destroyed were recast on site. The lower level swimming pool, installed with the ballroom in the 1912 addition, were rebuilt. The pool and deck areas were tiled; Doric columns painted in true Greek red, blue, and gold; and motorized pool cover, heater, and dehumidification systems installed. The Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Commission and Saint Paul Chapter of the American Institute of Architects awarded the project a 2004 Award of Recognition for the "sensitive restoration design of the Louis and Maud Hill House."