John Yeon (October 29, 1910 – March 13, 1994) was an American architect in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, in the mid-twentieth century. He is regarded as one of the early practitioners of the

Northwest Regional style Northwest Regional style architecture is an architectural style popular in the Pacific Northwest between 1935 and 1960. It is a regional variant of the International style. It is defined by the extensive use of unpainted wood in both interiors and ...

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

. Largely self-taught, Yeon’s wide ranging activities encompassed planning, conservation, historic preservation, art collecting, and urban activism. He was a connoisseur of objets d’art as well as landscapes, and one of Oregon’s most gifted architectural designers, even while his output was limited. The family name is pronounced "yee-on", not "yawn".

Early life

John Yeon was born in Portland on October 29, 1910, the son of John B. Yeon and Elizabeth Mock Yeon.Hortsch, Dan. Nationally-known architectural designer dies. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', March 15, 1994. The elder was a lumber baron and construction manager who oversaw the building of the Columbia River Highway, and developer of Portland's Yeon Building. The younger Yeon was largely raised in Portland and attended Allen Preparatory School in that city. But he also attended the Moran School in Washington State, where he did some of his earliest design work. After he completed high school, he left for

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

to attend Stanford University. An autodidact and polymath, Yeon attended the college for just a single semester before leaving and never became a licensed architect.

Architecture

His first built work–the 1937 Watzek House–was included in a 1939 publication and accompanying exhibition by the Museum of Modern Art. His most notable works include the aforementioned

Aubrey R. Watzek House The Aubrey R. Watzek House is a historic house at 1061 SW Skyline Boulevard in Portland, Oregon, United States. Built in 1936–1937 for a lumber magnate, it was considered a major regional statement of Modern architecture not long after its com ...

(1937) and the Portland Visitors Information Center (1949), both of which were featured in exhibits at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The Watzek house is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The John Yeon Speculative House (1939), one of the best-preserved of his nine "speculative house" series, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in August 2007. Yeon also designed museum exhibitions, including those for the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum beca ...

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...

, Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and the

Palace of the Legion of Honor The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which al ...

. In 1956, Yeon was awarded the Brunner Prize for architecture by the National Institute of Arts. The

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

awarded him a Distinguished Service Award in 1977, and

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & C ...

gave him its annual Aubrey Watzek Award in 1980. John Yeon died in Portland on Sunday, March 13, 1994, of congestive heart failure. He was interred at the Portland Memorial Mausoleum.

The John Yeon Center

A gift on behalf of the estate of John Yeon was made to the

School of Architecture and Allied Arts, which established the John Yeon Center for Architecture and the John Yeon Preserve for Landscape Studies. The John Yeon Center has also sponsored a John Yeon Lecture Series. Part of the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts, the Center manages and programs three properties designed by Yeon: the Watzek House (1937), a National Historic Landmark; the Cottrell House (1952), and the Shire, a 75-acre park in the Columbia River Gorge.

Retrospective

''Quest for Beauty: The Architecture, Landscapes, and Collections of John Yeon'', a major retrospective of Yeon's work, opened at the Portland Art Museum on May 13 and ran through September 3, 2017. The exhibit was designed by Lever Architecture of Portland, OR. Two monographs, ''John Yeon: Architecture'' and ''John Yeon: Landscape,'' were published by Andrea Monfried Editions in conjunction with the exhibition. Illustrated with drawings, plans and photographs, the books include essays by the director of the John Yeon Center, Randy Gragg, and other contributors, who explore his approach and contextualize his influence.

References

External links

* *
John Yeon images in ''Building Oregon: Architecture of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest''
(from the

Libraries)
''New York Times'' obituary of YeonJohn Yeon Lecture Series
from the