Perhaps you’ve seen it, either in person on Marquam Hill or online: the Zidell House, built in 1971 and premised on the idea of combining a residence with a 67-foot-high mast of a decommissioned naval ship. Conde Nast Traveler called it "officially the coolest treehouse in the world." For a while, it was available to rent on Airbnb, before being sold in 2023. The home is the most widely recognizable of architect Saul Zaik—once called “the last living midcentury Northwest modernist,” Zaik passed away in 2020 in his 90s, never retired and still drawing. But it's not the only Zaik house hiding in the hills around town.

After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1952, Zaik designed houses and commercial commissions, like a renovation of Timberline Lodge, for decades. Sometimes alone, sometimes in a firm with others, and, for a stint, taking up an office with the rest of the 14th Street Gang in a Northwest Portland Victorian. (This group included fellow acclaimed modernists William Fletcher and Donald Blair.) "[My generation of architects] were all World War II veterans, and we were out to change the idea of architecture," Zaik told Dwell in 2015. "We were really just building boxes with a bunch of windows but experimenting with how you integrated indoor and outdoor spaces."

His and his colleagues’ “experimenting” and integration of inside and out continued what Pietro Belluschi and John Yeon started, helping to establish Pacific Northwest Modernism and the use of local materials like cedar and stone as an enduring approach. Consider this custom house on a leafy street in the Dunthorpe neighborhood, completed by Zaik and Jim Miller in 1970.

Sitting on a 0.45-acre lot with lots of forest at the rear, it’s a study in cool window placement and wood-clad angles, thanks to walls and vaulted ceilings covered in old-growth cedar paneling, a feature found in every room except the kitchen and bathrooms.

For instance, in the main living room, sliding glass doors frame views into the landscaped gardens—done by designer Masa Mizuno, who’s also a contractor with the Portland Japanese Garden. Look up, and there’s a skylight revealing sky and treetops. In the dining room, a second set of glass doors opens to a minimalist deck and forested backyard, creating more exterior connection. Same with the adjacent family room.

It’s an efficient floor plan with 2,298 square feet—the hallway leading to the bathroom and one of the bedrooms is lined with another sliding glass door to a smaller shaded deck. There’s a second bedroom on the main floor, as well as a primary suite upstairs. Next to it, our favorite spot, a lofted office perch lit by clerestory windows, which overlooks both sides of the house.

Zaik was purportedly friends with the owners, and the home is on the market for the first time, with minor changes to the original structure. That means it comes with so much of its vintage charm, from all that wood, to the colorful linoleum counters in the bathrooms, and teak kitchen cabinets. In recent years, Zaik’s work has been called “reserved,” “deceptively simple,” “elegant and earthbound.” While this house might not be as immediately recognizable as the Zidell House, it’s no less compelling if you know to look.

Listing Fast Facts 

• Address: 10945 S Aventine Ave, Portland, OR 97219
• Size: 2,298 square feet/3 bedroom/3 bath 
• List Date: 7/24/2024 
• List Price: $1,250,000
• Listing Agent: Allison Williams and Carolyn Spurlock, Windermere Realty Trust

Melissa Dalton is a freelance writer who has focused on Pacific Northwest design and lifestyle since 2008. She is based in Portland, Oregon. Contact Dalton here. 

Editor’s Note: Portland Monthly’s “Property Watch” column takes a weekly look at an interesting home in Portland’s real estate market (with periodic ventures to the burbs and points beyond, for good measure). Got a home you think would work for this column? Get in touch at [email protected].