Pope Architects Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Wednesday, October 8th, 2014

Pope Architects is celebrating its 40th Anniversary on October 9, 2014 with an Oktoberfest bash at the Atrium Office in St. Paul, MN.

The festivities will feature a transformation of our atrium office space and outdoor patio area into a Oktoberfest “beer hall”. There will be a spread of German-themed food (brats, German potato salad, cucumber salad, baked pretzels, desserts) and other snacks. Live entertainment will be provided by the Jolly Huntsmen, an authentic and high quality German polka band. Commemorative 40th beer steins will be available for each guest.

History on Pope Architects

The firm that is now Pope Architects Inc. was founded by Albert G. Plagens in the mid 1940’s. Plagens operated as a sole practitioner until the late 1950’s when Robert l. McGee joined the firm. The firm was later named Plagens, McGee, Inc. Mr. Plagens passed away in the early 1960’s.

When Mr. McGee passed away in 1974, at the age of 50, his heirs approached Mr. McGee’s long-time friend, Robert l. (Bob) Pope, for assistance in finding a buyer for the firm. Bob Pope contacted his son Jon who was at that time practicing in Australia, and together they purchased the firm, founding Pope Associates, Inc. Bob Pope retired from practice in 1994 and passed away in 2001.

Today the firm is headed by Jon Pope, president of the company and majority shareholder. Other shareholder/principals include Paul Holmes, Randal Peek, Ward Isaacson, Thomas Kuck and Erica Larson. In 2012 the firm began doing business as “Pope Architects, Inc.”

Pope Architects is intentionally broadly focused on diverse project types including office, industrial, healthcare, housing, retail, religious, and education. Though projects are delivered through a broad range of methods, the firm is a strong proponent of negotiated-team, design-build and other non-traditional approaches.