John Yeon is known primarily for residential designs that announced, during the mid-twentieth century, a modern architecture for the Pacific Northwest. It was architecture characterised by astute siting and a sensitive use of wood, with planning that graciously accommodated contemporary living. His devotion to each project was complete, one reason for the relatively small number of realised works. Although regarded by some as a "regionalist," Yeon himself resisted that categorisation, arguing for architecture appropriate to its place, time, and people. John Yeon: Modern Architecture and Conservation in the Pacific Northwest presents detailed accounts of the three interrelated spheres that comprised John Yeon's life: architecture, conservation, and art collecting. As an architect, he quickly established a national reputation with the completion of the Watzek house in Portland in 1937, and its exhibition and publication shortly thereafter. As a preservationist, his advocacy saved, from development or despoliation, several substantial parcels of land in the Columbia River Gorge and along the Oregon Coast.
Over the years, he also assembled an important collection of artworks, to a large degree centred on Asian ceramics and paintings, but bolstered by substantial holdings of European furniture and other applied arts, and works by certain contemporary artists.