Portland Visitors Information Center (Portland, Oregon)
- Title
- Portland Visitors Information Center (Portland, Oregon)
- LC Subject
- Architecture, American Architecture--United States
- Alternative
- McCall's Waterfront Park Building (Portland, Oregon) McCall's Waterfront Restaurant (Portland, Oregon) Bureau of Architectural Planning (Portland, Oregon)
- Creator
- Yeon, John Wick Hilgers & Scott Wick, Clarence H. Scott, Gerald Hilgers, Albert W. Hoffman, L. H.
- Creator Display
- John Yeon (architect, 1910-1994) Wick, Hilgers, & Scott (architecture firm, 1941-1945) Clarence Herbert Wick (architect, 1907-1970) Gerald Scott (architect) Albert William Hilgers (architect, 1907-1990) L. H. Hoffman (builder/contractor)
- Description
- National Register of Historic Places (Listed, 2010) National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. Prepared by Kristen Minor, Peter Meijer Architect PC, February 20, 2010
- Provenance
- Design Library, University of Oregon Libraries
- Temporal
- 1940-1949
- Work Type
- architecture (object genre) built works views (visual works) exterior views cultural centers (buildings) visitors' centers
- Latitude
- 45.501554
- Longitude
- -122.677724
- Location
- Portland >> Multnomah County >> Oregon >> United States Multnomah County >> Oregon >> United States Oregon >> United States United States
- Street Address
- 1020 Southwest Naito Parkway
- Date
- 1948
- Identifier
- OR_Multnomah_Portland_VisitorsCenter.pdf
- Rights
- In Copyright
- Rights Holder
- University of Oregon
- Source
- Illustrated History of Lane County, Oregon. Portland, Oregon: A. G. Walling, 1884.
- Type
- Image
- Format
- application/pdf
- Set
- Building Oregon
- Primary Set
- Building Oregon
- Institution
- University of Oregon
- Note
- Constructed in 1948, the Visitors Information Center is a singularly unique example of the work of recognized master architect John Yeon. One of Oregon’s most famous architects, Yeon is known as a pioneer of the Northwest Regional style of architecture. His Information Center is his only non-residential building still in existence, and was included as one of only 43 buildings in the Museum of Modern Art’s prestigious 1953 “Built in U.S.A.: Post-War Architecture” exhibit, along with works by other know architects, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Philip Johnson, and Richard Neutra. Yeon’s deep love for the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest inspired his multi-disciplinary style of design, where the outside views were carefully framed in an orchestrated series of experiences. The exterior of the low, rectangular building is composed of three-foot wide vertically oreinted plywood panels punctuated by similarly-sized irregularly-placed picture windows. The design features four enclosed “pavilions” that pinwheel around the visually open glassed-in central area with each pavilion and a pergola and garden wall extending beyond the glass enclosure. Views from the building are carefully arranged to frame vistas of Mount Hood to the North or the enclosed garden originally planted with native species. The building exhibits aspects of both International Style and Northwest Regional Style architecture, and is widely considered to be one of John Yeon’s finest works.
