This study focuses on the development of architectural education at the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts (A&AA) in Eugene, Oregon. Applying a historic preservation perspective, this study examines how architectural perceptions are manifested through institutional changes in architectural education. Beginning with a focus on the A&AA under the administration of Dean Ellis F. Lawrence and Professor W. R. B. Willcox, this study transitions into an exploration of Dean Sidney W. Little's decidedly modernist alteration of the curriculum and building in the mid-twentieth century. During this period, the A&AA underwent a major shift from a curriculum and building based on the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement to a radically different approach that fully embraced the philosophy of modernism and actively rejected any allegiance to past architectural forms.