John Yeon architectural drawings

John Yeon (1910-1994) was an internationally known Oregon architect whose work greatly influenced the rethinking of art and architecture during the twentieth century. A native Oregonian, Yeon has widely been credited with defining Northwest regionalism, a subcategory of American modernism. A largely self-taught architect, Yeon designed buildings, interiors, gardens, landscapes, museum galleries, and furniture.

Yeon was never licensed as an architect, receiving his only formal education through very brief stints at Stanford and Columbia universities. Short periods of work in the offices of Herman Brookman and A.E. Doyle exposed him to architectural practice, but by and large the architect was a product of his own intellect and creativity.

The most notable of Yeon’s works is the Watzek House, designed in 1937 when the architect was 26 years old. The Watzek House, a National Historic Landmark and Yeon’s first built project, is located in Portland’s west hills and is an example of Yeon’s attempt to blend the spatial character of international modern architecture with local materials and forms. Along with the Portland Visitors Information Center (1947-48), the Watzek House went on to be featured in numerous exhibitions and publications at the Museum of Modern Art. This exposure brought international interest and further publication of Yeon’s work.

Between 1937 and the mid-1950s, Yeon completed about twenty houses and one public building—the Portland Visitor Information building, 1947-48. The majority of Yeon’s work was sited in the greater Portland/ Oregon area. A few designs were developed on the east coast and outside the country, and many of the buildings he designed were never carried through to construction. The original clients occupied all of Yeon’s commissioned houses until their deaths, with the exception of the Jorgensen House (1939). Yeon bought that house for himself in 1945 and lived and worked there until his death in 1994. In 1956, Yeon received the Brunner Prize for Architecture from the National Institute of Arts and Letters and in 1979 he was awarded an honorary membership in the American Institute of Architects.

Throughout his lifetime Yeon worked tirelessly as an advocate for historic preservation, landscape preservation, and civic planning. At 21 he was appointed to the first Oregon State Parks Commission by Governor Julius Meier. Notable interests include Chapman Point on the Oregon coast, around which he purchased land to safeguard the views against development, and The Shire, a 75-acre waterfront site in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge directly across the river from Multnomah Falls. He purchased The Shire in 1965 to protect the site from industrial development.