Visitors to the Portland Japanese Garden in April will finally be able see the completion of an expansion project that needed $33.5 million and almost two years of construction.
While all the changes took place outside the main garden in Washington Park, everything from the Southwest Kingston Avenue parking lot to the original entrance has been transformed to accommodate increasing numbers of visitors and more traditional Japanese arts and culture events.
Most notable are a 140-foot-long castle wall erected outside the existing entrance gate, a new Cultural Crossing Village with a cafe, and planting areas that demonstrate a wider array of Japanese garden styles and techniques, including a bonsai terrace.
During its half-century history, the Portland Japanese Garden has influenced homeowners to turn a part of their yard into one that hints of the horticulture in the island nation across the Pacific. Beyond maple trees, Oregonians have installed graceful stone paths, contouring ponds, tranquil Zen-style raked sand areas and plantings showcasing colors in all seasons.
Some people hired Portland landscape designer Hoichi Kurisu, the one-time landscape director for the Japanese Garden Society in Portland who, starting in 1963, supervised the construction of the Portland Japanese Garden based on garden designer Takuma Tono’s vision.
A few years after the Portland Japanese Garden opened in 1967, Kurisu started the landscape design/build firm Kurisu International in Portland. Clients range from discerning homeowners to demanding city officials. All want inviting garden spaces.
For many clients, Kurisu envisioned a landscape that included water and stone — opposites in Buddhist symbolism — and other natural elements used in traditional Japanese gardens.
Three of his designs are incorporated into residential properties that are currently for sale:
- The John E. G. Povey House, a 1891 Queen Anne-style Victorian at 1312 NE Tillamook St. in the Irvington neighborhood, which is listed at $749,000. There will be an open house from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12.
- A two-story Mediterranean villa on 10 acres at 581 Fisher Road in Roseburg’s Garden Valley West, which is listed at $2.95 million.
- An iconic peninsula property that includes a 5,542-square-foot main house with blue ceramic tiles and a Robert Oshatz-designed studio, office and boat lift at 1900 Twin Points Road in Lake Oswego, which is listed at $8.68 million.
In this week’s real estate gallery, we look at residential properties on the market that have a Japanese feature in the garden.
— Janet Eastman
jeastman@oregonian.com
503-799-8739
@janeteastman
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