Yeon Building

Oregon, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Completed in 1911 in downtown Portland, Oregon, the Yeon Building is a 15-story office tower designed by Reid & Reid in the Chicago School style. Rising 194 feet, the structure is clad almost entirely in glazed terra-cotta and features a colonnade crowning its upper floors. Built for timber magnate Jean Baptiste Yeon, who financed its construction, the building was Oregon's tallest at completion and held that distinction for nearly two years. Originally fitted with illuminated light sockets in its cornices—since removed—the building represents a significant example of early 20th-century commercial architecture and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.