In 1935, Portland lumber magnate Aubrey Watzek was looking for an architect to design his house. His friend, self-taught designer John Yeon, submitted a proposal, and the rest, as they say, is history. The grand Watzek House has since become one of the most famous houses in the state, with Yeon now credited as one of the founders of Northwest Regional Modernism.

And while we can appreciate the singularity of the Watzek House design, what Yeon referred to as “a sequence of revelations,” we are also curious about his humbler abodes. After all, fewer than 20 of Yeon’s designs were ever actually built. Of those, a good chunk (nine) belonged to a series of smaller speculative houses in Portland and Lake Oswego that were completed in 1939.

For these, the builder of the Watzek House, Willard “Burt” Smith, approached Yeon for more economic designs, and with no homeowner to accommodate, Yeon could do as he pleased. The resulting homes are known as the Plywood Houses for Yeon's innovative use of plywood on the exterior. (At the time, new glues in the plywood made this waterproof exterior application possible.) “This created an exterior facade that unfolded around the house like the Japanese screen art [Yeon] so admired,” wrote Robert Hinds, when he nominated the Watzek House for the National Register of Historic Places. That’s the first thing we noticed about this particular Lakewood neighborhood home on Ridgeway Road.

What’s confusing is that this house has a construction date of 1955, years after the Plywood Houses were completed. Despite that, the history of midcentury development in Lake Oswego identifies it as one of Yeon’s originals, of which only seven are believed to still be standing as of 2010. They are the only homes that Yeon built for the open market.

“Though it was the Watzek House that propelled Yeon to national recognition as an architect,” Hinds wrote, “it was his speculative houses that introduced the fundamental design elements that would characterize much of Yeon’s work.” We see these design elements at play here, including the exterior plywood, the parquet floors, and the louvered ventilation system placed below the fixed panes of glass, a well-known Yeon invention.

Most notable is the embrace of nature, thanks to the rhythm of the tall windows as they wrap around the house. These convey lush views of the yard, rather than neighbors, and bring in an abundance of natural light to every room, whether enjoying the sight from the living room fireplace, kitchen breakfast nook, or the primary bedroom.

With 1,685 square feet, four bedrooms and two bathrooms, the bulk of the plan is on a single level, but upstairs, there’s a surprise wood-clad loft that also looks down into the moss-covered rocks and mature trees of the oversize, 8,712-square-foot lot. What else can we expect from the designer who, in addition to his famed Watzek House, is equally known for his preservation efforts in the Columbia River Gorge?

Listing Fast Facts 

• Address: 589 Ridgeway Rd, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
• Size: 1,685 square feet/4 bedroom/2 bath 
• List Date: 6/2/2025  
• List Price: $1,374,000 
• Listing Agent: Christopher Johnson, Premiere Property Group, LLC

Melissa Dalton is a freelance writer who has focused on Pacific Northwest design and lifestyle since 2008. Contact Dalton here. 

Editor’s Note: Portland Monthly’s “Property Watch” column takes a weekly look at an interesting home in Portland’s real estate market (with periodic ventures to the burbs and points beyond, for good measure). Got a home you think would work for this column? Get in touch at [email protected].