Welcome to the Website of Jon Dieges, Architect

My first "Selfi" with my drafting assistant Nicodemus
My first “Selfi” in 2003 with my late drafting assistant Nicodemus

I welcome you to my website and invite you to click on the pages in the index above to see examples of my architectural work (Pages Two, Three , Four and Eight) , my bird photograhy (Page Five), the photography of the late Billie Berri, a long-time close personal friend (Page Six ), my writings, including a joint effort with Billie (Page Seven), my work done in partnership with my father Gerard (Page Eight) and my audio recordings (Page Nine).

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

Here is a speech on “Spaceship Earth” I gave for the February 2011 Area B-4 Toastmasters  Speech Contest that is even more relevant today,  four years later:

DIEGESjonTOASTMASTERS Feb 25 International Speech

 

A recent photo of the largest most complex job I have done in my 36 year career–the 10,000 Square Foot Ojai Valley Foursquare Church (constructed 1983-1985, & dedicated 1986)–I both managed  the construction with the Church Treasurer and worked full time on the job as one of the carpenters:

Ojai Valley Foursquare Church, view towards the Northwest
Ojai Valley Foursquare Church, view towards the Northwest.

 

As she introduces me for my short speech Pastor Ruby Mae Savage holds up my scale model at the 1986 Dedication of the church attended by dignataries from the central Foursquare Church (Angeles Temple in Echo Park LA).
As she introduces me for my short speech Pastor Ruby Mae Savage holds up my scale model at the 1986 Dedication of the church attended by dignitaries from the central Foursquare Church (Angeles Temple in Echo Park LA).

 

CONSTRUCTION WORK as General Building Contractor License # 437536 (on inactive status currently):

Ojai Valley Foursquare Church under construction during the Summer & Fall of 1983, and the Winter of 1983-1984, continuing into the Spring of 1984--this photo taken at the completion of "Rough Framing" about December 1983, just after the "Pink Moment" on the Topa Topa Bluffs in the distance (looking Northeast).
Ojai Valley Foursquare Church under construction during the Summer & Fall of 1983, and the Winter of 1983-1984, continuing into the Spring of 1984–this photo taken at the completion of “Rough Framing” about December 1983, just after the “Pink Moment” on the Topa Topa Bluffs in the distance (looking Northeast). Not only was I the Architect but I also worked full time on this job as a carpenter, as well as the co-Construction Manager with Leonard Dollar, the Church Treasurer.

 

After some haggling with the Ojai City Planning Commission over whether a "Church" should be given an award a compromise was reached and an "Assembly Building" category was created so this project could receive an award.
After some haggling with the Ojai City Planning Commission over whether a “Church” should be given an award a compromise was reached and an “Assembly Building” category was created so this project could receive an award.

 

I have also built six small houses doing all the work myself (except for supplying the construction materials and a few hours help from each of my two brothers):

A 470 square foot Second Dwelling (legal at the time, but now requiring an acre of land) that I built with my on hands.
A 470 square foot Second Dwelling (legal at the time, but now requiring an acre of land) that I built with my on hands, completed 1999.

 

Here is a photo looking south of my first house completed in 1978, refurbished by a new owner with stucco (it was bare concrete block before) and door upgrades and the addition of an outdoor washing machine emptying into a gray-water system:The first house I ever built by myself, thirty three years later, at 1460 McAndrew Road, my home for twenty years 1977-1997.

 

 

How it looked the week I had to leave it behind October1, 1997.

How it looked the week I had to leave it behind October1, 1997.

 

Looking West of the house I lived in for twenty years and the first house I built myself by hand.
Looking west at the house I lived in for twenty years and the first house I built myself by hand.

 

My first house under construction about 1976, looking Northwest
My first house under construction about 1976, looking Northwest

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