Can a minimalist-seeking, Buddhist-inspired, Zen-style house be big and expensive? A Lake Oswego estate, with Japanese-influenced features spanning more than 2.19 waterfront acres, begs the question. So does its $8 million asking price.
The home at 1900 Twin Points Road has been a lakefront landmark since the 1920s. Adding to the eye-catching factor: A teardrop-shaped studio, office and boat lift designed decades later by Lake Oswego architect Robert Oshatz.
Supporters of the Lake Oswego Preservation Society see Twin Points’ distinctive blue-roof main house and curvy studio as highlights of the Labor Day weekend’s Classic Houses and History Boat Tour on Oswego Lake.
The property on the peninsula was first named Twin Points by the home’s original owner, philanthropist Mary Scarborough Young, a Proctor & Gamble heiress best known to Oregonians as the donor of land for Mary S. Young State Park, off Oregon 43 in West Linn.
The once-traditional house, built almost a century ago, had been extensively remodeled over its lifestime. Blue Japanese tiles and ceramic fish ornaments were added to the roof in the 1970s.
When former owners, artist Pamela Gibson and her husband, tech entrepreneur Scott Gibson, bought the house in 1990, they undertook exterior and interior refurbishing to give new emphasis to the Asian features.
The home was renamed Suhali, which means “a warm Asian breeze.”
Oshatz was hired to enhance the exterior’s Japanese style and architect John Hasenberg worked on the interior, bringing in burnished wood floors beneath large windows.
Today, the front drive is a large circular path with tall pine trees at its center. The house has nine doors leading to patios, view points and different levels of the fir-shaded yard.
The Oshatz-designed studio was inspired by the movement of the water. It was built into the side of the hillside to prevent obstruction of the lake view from the road, says listing agent Terry Sprague of LUXE Platinum Properties/Christie’s International Real Estate.
Walls and ceilings of exposed Douglas fir beams follow the contours of the sweeping roofline. The studio has radiant-heat concrete floors, a kitchenette and bath. Sprague says Nike once used the studio for a creativity conference.
Portland landscape designer Hoichi Kurisu, who was instrumental in the design and construction of the Portland Japanese Garden, envisioned a landscape with water and stones — opposites in Buddhist symbolism — and other natural elements used in traditional Japanese gardens.
The Japanese goal of incorporating scenery and vistas beyond the garden (“shakkei”), is evident on the rocky outcropping that frames water views.
Water surrounds Twin Points. In addition to the lake on three sides of the property, there are two waterfalls and a koi pond near the house.
Paths lead to hammocks and benches, and the main patio, which has an outdoor kitchen with Viking appliances and granite counters. There’s also a large Trex swim deck and another deck designed for fishing catfish and largemouth bass. A boat dock is 21 steps below the garden.
“When you open all the doors, the inside and the outside flow together,” Gibson once told The Oregonian.
“The Japanese pagoda-style home is a historic icon of Lake Oswego and lakefront properties all over the Pacific Northwest,” according to LUXE Platinum Properties marketing materials.
Over-the-top features:
Hand-made blue ceramic tiles cover the main residence’s roof that shelters 5,542 square feet of living space. The tiles were salvaged from a century-old building in Japan and shipped here. Look closely to see the ceramic fish ornaments.
An extensive remodeling project overseen by the Neil Kelly Co. started in the 1990s and continued for 20 years. The goal was to install Japanese-style features, as inspired by the tile roof.
The main house retained little of the original Young homestead. Portions of the foundation were incorporated into the new foundation.
Local lore holds that the huge trusses for the roof were brought in by helicopter over the lake, says Sprague.
The living room has a Feather River rock fireplace and the family room has a wood-burning fireplace and a pitched ceiling treatment that mirrors one in the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s geometric style also influenced the remodel. The dining room has custom shoji screens with Wright-like stained glass designs and grid ceiling details. There are cornice boards with up-lighting and mahogany floors with maple inlay.
The kitchen has geometric elements in the vertical-grain fir cabinetry that mimic the shoji screens. There’s a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Fisher and Paykel five-burner stove, Miele steam oven and Jenn-Air oven and warming drawer.
The master suite on the main floor has marble bathroom counters, a Jacuzzi tub and walk-in closet. All five bedrooms have lake views.
The corked-floor, subterranean wine cellar can house 3,000 bottles.
The property sold for $4.35 million in 2005, according to public records.
Annual taxes are $71,142.
At 6,776 square feet of living space, that breaks down to $1,180 a square foot based on the asking price of $7,999,000 (a Feb. 2 drop from the original list price of $8.68 million). The median price per square foot in the 97034 zip code is $292, according to the real estate database Redfin.
— Janet Eastman
jeastman@oregonian.com
503-799-8739
@janeteastman
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