Established firm changes name as new firm grows

Now known as Pellham Phillips, the firm, which was founded in 1977 and has its offices at 1111 S. Glenstone, continues to work with Hagerman on some projects, including a church in Sioux City, Iowa, and the Ozark campus of Ozarks Technical Community College.

“When we work on a project with them, we do the structural and mechanical aspects here,” Larry Phillips said.

And while the firms are competing in the same marketplace, there are no hard feelings between the two.

“We started out as Pellham Phillips and were that for 15 years before Jerry joined us,” Phillips said. “It was Jerry’s goal all along to practice with his son. We still support one another.”

Jerry Hagerman’s son, Bo Hagerman, spent his senior year of high school working at Pellham Phillips Hagerman. He then went to architectural school and stayed with the firm, meanwhile completing internships in Paris and Kansas City.

In February 2003, after Jerry Hagerman had been with Pellham Phillips for 12 years, the father-son duo struck out on their own.

“We had our grand opening in August,” Bo Hagerman said. The Hagermans renovated a dilapidated 5,000-square-foot, four-story building at 122 Park Central Square to house Hagerman New Urbanism. The company focuses on architecture and urban planning and development.

Bo Hagerman’s love of art also is evident. The first floor of the building houses an art gallery where area artists, including the younger Hagerman, can present their work. The remaining three floors accommodate the architectural offices.

“We’re going to focus on smaller, more creative projects that we’re developing ourselves,” Bo Hagerman said. “We do architecture and concentrate on religious and educational buildings. We also do houses and other things but most of our projects are churches and campuses.”

In his projects, Hagerman uses his own personal style of architecture, which is blending human elements with modern expressions, giving a French country aesthetic feel to modern buildings. The designs are unique, yet functional, with special touches such as white columns, marble floors or spiral staircases, elements that are reflected in the company’s Park Central Square office.

“When someone invests in a building, it’s often their life savings or huge amounts of money. We want to find a way to do their project in a responsible way with a sense of warmth,” Hagerman said. “It’s silly to copy older buildings at this point of technological progress. We try to bring the two together in a larger concept of urban planning, with the use of foliage and green architecture.”

As for Pellham Phillips, the 25-employee firm has not changed its focus, and it continues to maintain its client base.

“We’re still a full service architectural, engineering and interior design firm.We’re proud of a lot of our projects, but my favorite is the new Hammons Field,” said Phillips. “It wasn’t the most technically challenging but it was the most fun. I love baseball and I’m proud of the final product.”

The Hagermans, who tend to focus on smaller jobs, are happy to leave the big projects to Pellham Phillips, which has worked on the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts and Chateau on the Lake. Up next for Pellham Phillips is designing the new downtown arena for Springfield, which is slated to fill the vacant land between Jordan Valley Car Park and the expo center.