Northwest Regional style architecture is an architectural style popular in the Pacific Northwest between 1935 and 1960. [1] It is a regional variant of the International style. [1] It is defined by the extensive use of unpainted wood in both interiors and exteriors. [1] Other features of the style include integration of the building with its setting through asymmetrical floor plans, exterior open rooms, extensive use of glass extending to the floor, a low-pitched or flat roof of shingles with overhanging eaves, and a minimum of decoration. [1] It is sometimes known as Northwest style or Northwest modernism. [2] : xii
The International Style of the West Coast traveled north and influenced architects. [3] The terrain of the Northwest impacted the Modern style with architects making the conscious decision to preserve site elements like: Mountains, views of water, and paths of light. [3] The defining characteristic of the wooden exterior and interiors came from the terrain of the Northwest too, with the abundance of tree species like redwood, douglas fir, and western red cedar. [4] This allowed for a warmer modern architectural style, separating it from the stucco and concrete structures of California. [3] The style was developed by architects including Paul Thiry in Seattle [5] and John Yeon in Oregon, and was used most often in residential buildings. [1] [6] Other proponents of the style included Paul Hayden Kirk, [7] Pietro Belluschi, John Storrs, Van Evera Bailey, Herman Brookman, and Saul Zaik. [6] [8]
Some examples of Northwest Regional style include the Harry F. Wentz Studio on the Oregon coast, and the Museum of Contemporary Craft, John Yeon Speculative House, Aubrey R. Watzek House, Zion Lutheran Church, and Visitors Information Center in Portland. Seattle examples include the Northeast Branch Library by Thiry, [9] University of Washington Faculty Club, [10] and University Unitarian Church.
Victor Eugene Steinbrueck was an American architect, best known for his efforts to preserve Seattle's Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market. He authored several books and was also a University of Washington faculty member.
Lionel H. ("Spike") Pries, was a leading architect, artist, and educator in the Pacific Northwest.
Roland Terry was a Pacific Northwest architect from the 1950s to the 1990s. He was a prime contributor to the regional approach to Modern architecture created in the Northwest in the post-World War II era.
Carl Frelinghuysen Gould also spelled Carl Freylinghausen Gould, was an architect in the Pacific Northwest, and founder and first chair of the architecture program at the University of Washington. As the lead designer in the firm Bebb and Gould, with his partner, Charles H. Bebb, Gould was responsible for many notable Pacific Northwest buildings, such as the original Seattle Art Museum and for the campus plan of the University of Washington.
Paul Hayden Kirk was a Pacific Northwest architect. Paul Kirk's designs contributed to development of a regionally appropriate version of Modern architecture. Many of his buildings are as much appreciated today as they were at the time they were built.
Willis Alexander Ritchie, also known as W.A.Ritchie, was an architect whose career began in Ohio and Kansas, but reached maturity in Seattle and Spokane, Washington.
Jeffrey Karl Ochsner is an architect, architectural historian, and professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is known for his research and writing on American architects Henry Hobson Richardson and Lionel H. Pries, and on Seattle architecture; he has also published articles that link architecture and psychoanalysis.
John Yeon was an American architect in Portland, Oregon, in the mid-twentieth century. He is regarded as one of the early practitioners of the Northwest Regional style of Modernism. 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.
Floyd Archibald Naramore was an American architect. He is most notable for his work on schools, serving as Architect and Superintendent of properties for Portland Public Schools and as Architect of Seattle Public Schools. He was also a founder of the firm that is now known as NBBJ.
The College of Built Environments is the architecture and urban planning school of the University of Washington, a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Paul Thiry (1904–1993) was an American architect most active in Washington state, known as the father of architectural modernism in the Pacific Northwest. Thiry designed "some of the best period buildings around the state of Washington during the 1950, 60s and 70s."
Bassetti Architects is an architectural firm based in Seattle, Washington with a second office in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1947, the firm has newly designed or substantially renovated several well-known Seattle landmarks and many schools in the greater Seattle-Tacoma area. This includes several buildings at the Pike Place Market, the Jackson Federal Building, Seattle City Hall, the Seattle Aquarium, Franklin High School, Raisbeck Aviation High School, Roosevelt High School, and Stadium High School. The firm's work has been awarded local, national, and international awards.
Fred Bassetti was a Pacific Northwest architect and teacher. His architectural legacy includes some of the Seattle area's more recognizable buildings and spaces. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) described his role as a regional architect and activist as having made significant contributions to "the shape of Seattle and the Northwest, and on the profession of architecture."
University Unitarian Church was designed by Seattle architect Paul Hayden Kirk in 1959. The church is located in the Wedgwood, Seattle neighborhood at the corner of 35th Avenue NE and 68th Street. The building is approximately a mile and half Northeast of the University of Washington Campus and sits across from the Northeast Branch of the Seattle Public Library. It was designed during the time when architect Kirk was working as a sole practitioner.
For a useful starting point goto Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture (2022). Not yet in print format; it is online here with 2000 articles.
Ellsworth Storey was a Seattle architect. He is known for combining contemporary and historical architectural styles with local materials to create a regional architectural style that reflected the natural environment of the Pacific Northwest.
Dearborn-Massar was a mid-20th-century American firm specializing in architectural photography founded by Phyllis Dearborn (1916–2011) and Robert J. Massar (1915–2002).
The architecture of Seattle, Washington, the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S., features elements that predate the arrival of the area's first settlers of European ancestry in the mid-19th century, and has reflected and influenced numerous architectural styles over time. As of the early 21st century, a major construction boom continues to redefine the city's downtown area as well as neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, Ballard and, perhaps most dramatically, South Lake Union.
The Regents Hill residential complex, also known as Regents Hall, is a residence hall located on the main campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Designed by Paul Thiry and completed in 1952, it was the first International Style building on the Washington State University campus. It is one of the many dormitories on the Washington State University campus available to undergraduates. Variously called "Regents Hall" and the "Regents Hill Halls," the complex, consists of two, four-story linked residential wings, McGregor Hall and Barnard Hall, and Stearns Hall—a free-standing dining hall and common space. Together with Scott Coman Hall just to its northwest, the complex ushered in a new era of campus design featuring large, technologically sophisticated, light-filled concrete buildings for research, teaching, and residential life.
Scott/Coman Hall is a residence hall complex located on the main campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. It consists of two separate buildings, Coman Hall and Scott Hall.