Our first visit to this pocket of a neighborhood on SW Upper Cascade Drive in Arlington Heights was a revelation of sorts, as driving up the single-track, winding road feels like you’re accessing some far corner of Washington Park. At that time, we checked out a 1977 home designed by Marvin Witt and remodeled by Skylab Architecture. This week, we’re touring another architect-designed home on the same block: a 1988 build from Robert Thompson filled with sweeping curves and glass block walls, all in a soft white palette that seems to soak up and disperse the natural light.

Thompson cofounded TVA Architects in 1984, and he and his firm are responsible for a slate of prominent Oregon buildings, many of which you’ve probably been inside. These include the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton (1987), Marilyn Moyer Meditation Chapel at the Grotto (1989), and, more recently, Fox Tower (2000).

From the street, the first impression of this home is of its unique geometry: the swoop of the roofline crests a large rectangular volume clad in vertical wood siding, with a thin reveal emphasizing the verticality. But then, a quarter radius of glass block at the front door and a curving front privacy wall soften the straight lines, with the latter concealing a courtyard that has a 36-foot-long lap pool doubling as a serene water feature when seen from inside.

The layout is three floors with a total of 3,727 square feet, and the main level is occupied by the primary living areas. Entry is at a foyer with a lower ceiling and pink granite floors—this was the ’80s, after all—which then feeds into a double-height living room, complete with soaring walls of windows. One side looks into the pool courtyard, and the other, into the dense forest (much of it part of Washington Park’s Hoyt Arboretum). Thanks to the thoughtful placement of windows throughout, most of the views are to those sun-dappled leaves rather than neighbors, and the crisp white architecture is a striking frame for their brilliant green.  

Gentle curves are a motif that continue throughout, from the sweep of the fireplace column and end of the kitchen island to the oculus skylights in the living room, dining room, and primary bathroom. So, too, with the minimal approach to decorative detailing, pink granite aside, in things like the slim white tubular metal railings inside and out, glass block walls with a rippled surface, and original glossy Formica cabinets in the kitchen and upstairs.

There, a family room/office feels as though it's hovering above the floor below, complete with more forest views and built-in cabinetry for a desk and B&O stereo system. A catwalk leads to the primary suite, with more built-ins, including a semicircular headboard. Downstairs, there’s an additional two bedrooms, a full bathroom, and a second family room. As for the rest of the yard, there’s 600 square feet of decks, and easy access to another icon: Wildwood Trail, right next door.

Listing Fast Facts

• Address: 3232 SW Upper Cascade Dr, Portland, OR 97205
• Size: 3,727 square feet/3 bedroom/3 bath
• List Date: 6/15/2024 
• List Price: $1,494,000
• Listing Agents: Jeff Weithman, Real Estate Through Design, and Marcia Weiss, (W)here

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. 

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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].