Northwest Modern: The Architecture of Van Evera Bailey
Saturday, August 23, 2008 Architectural Heritage Center |
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The work of Portland architect Van Evera Bailey (1903–1980) is hardly known today outside of Oregon, despite being widely published in architectural magazines of the 1940s and 50s. Primarily a residential architect, Bailey designed scores of houses in the Portland area. A contemporary of Pietro Belluschi and John Yeon, Bailey developed his own brand of the NW Regional style that enjoyed immense popularity among Portlanders of means in the 1950s.
He designed exclusive retreats for Portland's elite, but Bailey also met the needs of less well-to-do clients with his lifelong interest in economizing the art of architecture. He also developed a reputation as a structural innovator, inventing construction methods that were more daring and less expensive than conventional methods.
Although Bailey had no formal architectural education, a series of fortuitous meetings with established architects before WWII helped launch his career in the post-war years. His reputation as a brash designer won him many commissions and some fame in the Portland of his era. Now fifty years later, speaker Hope Svenson will again shine the spotlight on Bailey's career with a focus on several of his best residential designs and their historic context.
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