Midcentury Modern Design Truly Soars at Portland’s Boomerang House

A midcentury modern home in the Pacific Northwest that pays homage to Frank Lloyd Wright is ready to swoop into the hands of a new owner.

Known as the Boomerang House, thanks to its unique shape, the home on Skyline Boulevard in Portland, OR, has skimmed onto the market for just under $1.8 million.

“It’s hard to see it necessarily when you’re inside the house, but if you’re looking at it from an aerial point of view, you can totally see that it’s shaped like a boomerang,” explains the listing agent, Mark Bisaccio.

The home was built in 1947, and was completely renovated by the current owners in the past few years. Bisaccio estimates that the owners spent about $700,000 on renovations.

Big changes include the removal of a wall between the kitchen and the living space, the addition of a garage, and the creation of a breezeway between the garage and the home.

“Everybody that sets foot in this house says they absolutely love it,” says Bisaccio. “Nobody walks into this house and says, ‘It’s OK.’ It gets great reactions from everybody.”

The home’s huge windows and overall aesthetic are reminiscent of the Wright’s style, and some architecture historians have tried to connect this design directly to the iconic architect. However, no definitive proof connects Wright to the home.

The house was built for the movie actress Margaretta Ramsey—known for starring in in “Mannix,” “Dinah East,” and “Riot on Sunset Strip” in the 1960s and 1970s. There were reports that FLW was friends with Ramsey’s husband, Walter.

The agent says he can see why Wright fans would love to attribute to the master this home that embraces its natural surroundings.

“It’s just very clearly aimed after his style. It’s got floor-to-ceiling windows that look on to an amazing yard, so you feel like you’re in the forest,” Bisaccio explains. “People initially are drawn to all the windows. There is so much natural light.”

The home, on almost a half-acre, measures 3,693 square feet.

The kitchen is sleek and features high-end appliances with an island and a separate dining area. It opens on to a porch with plenty of room for outdoor living.

Downstairs, on the lower level, a climate-controlled wine room can store 650 bottles.

The house has a total of four bedrooms and three bathrooms, but it’s possible that the current layout won’t work for every buyer.

“There are two bedrooms on the main level and two bedrooms down below,” Bisaccio explains.

He said the upstairs-downstairs dynamic is the reason the current owners are selling what they thought would be their forever home.

“They were recently surprised with twins,” he says. “With three kids, it’s hard to split them and put them up and down.”

Bisaccio says buyers could easily snag a traditional home with more square footage for a similar price in the Portland metro.

However, the Boomerang House is not likely to appeal to that type of buyer.

“The perfect buyer for this house is somebody who appreciates and respects design and architecture, especially midcentury modern architecture,” says Bisaccio.

“It appeals to everybody, but it’s just a matter of who can practically live here,” he says. “People that are creative minded, design-oriented … are just going to go nuts over this thing. And they do.”

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