Architect Spotlight: The Arc(hitecture) of John Yeon

Architect John Yeon, a Portland-born designer, found himself on an international stage for his first built project, the Watzek house, a project that Yeon offered to his friend, Audrey R. Watzek, a fellow skier and naturalist who worked in the lumber industry.  The project was not intended to win awards or be historical; however, the serendipitous travels of a photographer with a connection to the Museum of Modern Art 1939 publication, Art in Our Time, led to the publication of a tourist’s photo and national acclaim.

While many notable homes built at the same time were showing off their open floor plans, the Watzek House was not intimidated to stand on its own.  The roof line highlights and blends into the surrounding hills and distant mountains, yet it’s scale is not ostentatious as Yeon kept the eave “no higher than a tall man can reach.”  The sequence of secondary, working spaces moves you towards the special rooms, such as the living and dining rooms, that beckon your attention by offering a connection to the surrounding landscape with floor-to-ceiling windows that nearly dissolve the exterior wall into the trees and expansive views beyond.   

Not only will our guests have time to wander the Watzek House, but they can also explore Yeon’s career progression as they tour the Cottrell House, one of his last built projects, conveniently located across the street.  

In the Cottrell House, the focal point inside is a sunken living room from which auxiliary spaces branch. These additional, more private, rooms provided personal space as bedrooms as well as unique views and connections to the surrounding landscape. Most had floor to ceiling windows and many also had exterior doors leading to private terraces or a balcony.

Knowing they liked to entertain, the living room of the Cottrell House was large and functional, boasting a hidden projection screen that allowed for viewing parties and space for guests at two levels.  As Dr. Cottrell was also a photographer, Yeon incorporated a built-in lightbox table upstairs for viewing photos as well as a basement photography studio, one of the few spaces closed off to the outside.  

In a letter to Keith Eggener, Yeon wrote that the Cottrell House is somewhat a “synthesis … incorporating various tested elements of (his) evolving architectural devices.”

Come experience John Yeon’s growth as an architect and the evolution of Northwest Regional Modernism during his career.

You won't want to miss this gathering!

This bucket-list opportunity features a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour two incredible homes, delicious refreshments, and enthusiastic company nestled in the Southwest Portland hills.

John Yeon

(1910 - 1994)

Called “the Dean of Northwest Architecture” by Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Yeon is considered a founding pioneer in the Northwest Regional style of architecture.  From using local, regional materials and vernacular forms, to blending with its surroundings, his projects would ‘melt(…) into the land.’   A native Oregonian, largely self-taught and never licensed as an architect, his brilliant designs include residences, interiors, gardens, landscapes, furnishings, commercial buildings, and museum installations.

Yeon completed the design of the Aubrey Watzek House in 1937, a seemingly modest house of tongue-and-groove cedar siding surrounding an austere courtyard. He incorporated unprecedented technical advances such as double-pane windows, a venting system, and hidden gutters and blinds throughout an open-concept floor plan with axial hallways. It is the most internationally famous house in Oregon history and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2011. Yeon also designed a dozen other residences, which he described as “barn style” and “palace style” out of the then-new material, exterior plywood.