The Marion Dean Ross/Pacific Northwest Chapter is an affiliated regional chapter of the international Society of Architectural Historians, whose home office is in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Our regional chapter encompasses the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, USA and the province of British Columbia, Canada.

The Society of Architectural Historians was organized nationally in 1940. The Marion Dean Ross/Pacific Northwest Chapter evolved from the Pacific Section, which was organized in San Francisco in 1954. The large Pacific Coast constituency of SAH was subdivided when the Southern California Chapter was formed in 1962 and the jurisdiction extending north from the San Francisco Bay region adopted the name Northern Pacific Coast Chapter in 1965. The northern group reorganized separately from California under the name Marion Dean Ross/Pacific Northwest Chapter in 1995. In the final subdivision, the Northern California Chapter encompassing the Bay Area was organized in 1996.

Elliott A.P. Evans was the organizer of the Pacific Section and its first president. Marion Dean Ross, one of the founding members at the San Francisco meeting in 1954, was centrally involved in the development of the regional chapter until his death in 1991. Professor Ross' long academic career at the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts and his contribution to the appreciation of architectural history in the Pacific Northwest led to renaming the chapter in his honor in 1995.

In 2004 the chapter celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding. The annual conference that year was held in Eugene, Oregon, home of the University of Oregon, where Professor Ross fulfilled his distinguished teaching career.

Our Vision

We are a small congenial group of people from diverse professional backgrounds who enjoy an interest in architecture. We believe the built environment reflects the culture of our region and we value its contribution to our quality of life.

Our Mission

* To support and further the objectives of the international Society of Architectural Historians;
* To hold meetings for the study and discussion of historically significant architectural sites in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere;
* To increase awareness and knowledge of the region's architectural heritages and of the history of architecture worldwide