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Resources The Shire: The John Yeon Preserve for Landscape Studies
The Watzek House and its garden hold a pivotal position in the history of architecture in the Pacific Northwest. The Shire is a unique landscape, sensitively designed as a private park in the heart of the scenic Columbia River Gorge. The two centers offer unique learning settings for those who will shape the landscape and building environments of the future; those who create fine art; and those who educate others about the arts, design and architecture. John Yeon
Yeon was a frequent spokesperson for preserving landscapes, for civic planning, for parks, and advocated planning of highways, and later, freeways to avoid cross-country strip development. He was actively involved in the creation of Olympic National Park in Washington state. His best known architectural work is the Aubrey Watzek House of 1937, designed when Yeon was 26 years old. This house is beautifully sited high in Portland, Oregon's west hills with one axis connecting a suite of spaces from living room to dining room. The second axis aligns the living room with a spectacular view of Mt. Hood. The Watzek House is built of wood and exquisitely detailed. A photograph of the house, showing its cascading roof paralleling the slope of Mt. Hood in the distance, was featured in New York's Museum of Modern Art's famous 1944 exhibition of modern architecture, Built in USA,1932-1944, and brought widespread interest in the work of Yeon and his contemporary, Pietro Belluschi. Their work pioneered what became known as a Pacific Northwest regional style. In May 1986, Yeon gave the University of Washington's Lionel H. Pries Distinguished Guest Lecture, one of the few lectures he gave about his own work. In that talk he revealed the essence of his beliefs: ''My own interest is very limited; it concerns deliberate aesthetic preference for forms sympathetic to various natural landscapes, or, in a high-flown phrase I used when I was young, architecture which translates the spirit of places into forms which are habitable.'' Yeon also conveyed his thoughts about regional architecture saying, ''regional architecture does not happen simply, automatically, or unself-consciously as it once did. If it happens at all, it results from deliberate aesthetic resistance to ubiquitous popular fashions. It will be done by people and for people who love landscapes and are literate in architecture . . . It is my belief that significant regional architecture will be an act of will, an act of taste, a response triggered by an appreciation of nature.'' The Shire: John Yeon Preserve for Landscape Studies
The Shire is a center for Pacific Northwest landscape studies while being preserved as an example of landscape design. It provides an educational site for the study of landscape preservation, design, ecology, and management creating opportunities for individuals and study groups to engage in research and discussion of landscape architecture, planning, conservation and preservation issues associated with the Columbia River Gorge, the Pacific Northwest region, and the nation. John Yeon Center for Architectural Studies The John Yeon Center for Architectural Studies is centered at the Watzek House in Portland, Oregon. John Yeon's first built project, the Watzek House was constructed in 1937 and was soon hailed by national critics as an outstanding example of modern design. The Watzek House is regarded as a pioneer of the Pacific Northwest regional style. The purpose of the John Yeon Center for Architectural Studies is to advance Yeon's ideals and principles through research, publications, focused study groups, and the perpetual preservation of the Watzek House and garden. The John Yeon Center will provide an opportunity for University of Oregon faculty members, students, other professionals in the state and region, and visiting scholars, to explore critical issues in architecture, historic preservation, and landscape architecture in the context of Yeon's creative work and philosophy. |
In October 1995 the University of Oregon announced the establishment of two nationally-significant centers- The Shire: The John Yeon Preserve for Landscape Studies and The Watzek House: The John Yeon Center for Architectural Studies. As UO President David Frohnmayer said at the October public announcement, ''I am proud to be announcing these gifts to the University of Oregon, not only for the far-reaching impact they will have on our educational mission, but also for the profound place they hold as treasures in our cultural heritage.'' 
John Yeon, a native Oregonian, lived from 1910 to 1994, and was regarded regionally as a pioneer in the 20th century's fundamental rethinking of art and architecture. He was a self-trained designer whose brilliant work encompassed whole landscapes, gardens, buildings, interiors, and furnishings. From an early age, he was committed to the preservation and enhancement of Oregon's landscape and was deeply involved in civic activities toward this end. At age 21, he was appointed by Governor Julius Meier to Oregon's first State Park Commission and a few years later, was appointed chair of the Columbia Gorge Committee of the National Resources Board, established to preserve the Columbia River Gorge. 
The Shire occupies a 75-acre waterfront site in Skamania County, Washington, in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge. It is directly across from Multnomah Falls. The Shire is a carefully designed landscape with a sculpted lawn, a series of meadows, wetlands, vista points, river bays, and walking paths which John Yeon created over the past 30 years. He purchased the property in 1965 to protect it from possible industrial development.