On June 1st, the eighth annual Portland Modern Home Tour returns, offering an exclusive look into some of Portland's most drool-worthy architectural marvels and refined interior décor. 

This year’s event boasts a wide variety of homes to peruse, ranging from a completely revamped Victorian nestled between Kerns and Buckman to origami-inspired, environmentally conscious townhouses crafted by award-winning Waechter Architecture.

“If you build houses for a living, who gets to see that house? The people living there and their friends and family,” says Ken Shallcross, vice president of event organizers Modern Architecture + Design Society. “This is a sort of stage where local builders, architects, and designers can, in person, show what they do to people like me who haven’t gone to architecture school or aren’t in the industry.”

The tour will take an estimated 700 attendees through eight local homes, with a ninth house serving as the post-tour party venue —hors d'oeuvres and beverages are included with ticket purchase. The Portland Community College Architecture and Design Club, a nonprofit partner of MA+DS, will serve as house guardians, greeters, and guides. (“Whenever we can we like to use students because they’re always eager to volunteer,” explains Shallcross. “And we’re able to introduce them to a bunch of people that maybe they can get ideas from or one day will be working for.”)

MA+DS has been hosting self-guided home tours since its inaugural event in 2010 in Austin, Texas. Since then, they’ve expanded to over eight cities, but Shallcross claims that the City of Roses is high on their list of favorite venues. “Every year in Portland there’s a wide diversity of modern interpretation,” he says. “It's a slice of that Pacific Northwest architecture which ties into the scenery and uses the lands and woods that is really unique to the area.”

2019 Portland Modern Home Tour                               

11 a.m - 5 p.m Saturday, June 1st, $40 - $60