Jean Linden Young

Jean Linden Young was born in Detroit, Michigan, and was educated at Wayne University (1944–1946) and the University of Illinois (B.S. Arch., 1947). In 1948, she married Clayton Young, an engineer, and moved to Kentucky, where she was an instructor at the University of Kentucky (1948–1949) while also employed as a draftsperson and designer. The couple moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1949. Young and her husband established a joint practice, Clayton & Jean Young and Associates Architects, in Seattle in 1954, and she became a registered architect a year later. The joint practice ended in 1975, and after their divorce, Young established her own private practice. Her designs mainly included private residences, apartment buildings, and small commercial structures in the Seattle area.

Young was active in many architectural organizations, particularly those that promoted the place of women in the profession. As a member of the American Institute of Architects, she served on the Task Force on Women in the Architectural Profession (1972–1976) and co-founded the Sisters for a Human Environment association. Young was also an active participant in the congresses of L’Union Internationale des Femmes Architectes (UIFA), and was elected General Secretary of UIFA in 1979. Together with L. Jane Hastings, she organized the first UIFA Congress held in the United States, in Seattle, that year.

Her IAWA collection includes correspondence, files, newspaper clippings, and other materials about her work with multiple organizations, as well as professional papers for her designs.