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The ghost of a way station with a ’70s plot twist.

3210 SW Malcolm Ct, Portland

Staging, Styling, and Photos: Assemble Collective

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Today in the Studio

Set on .71 acres just off Canyon Road, 3210 SW Malcolm Court has a history that may reach well beyond its recorded build date. According to longtime owner and architect Richard “Rick” Carlson, the site is thought to have housed the way station for overnight travelers making their way between Portland and Hillsboro along the historic Canyon Road corridor. First opened in 1849, Canyon Road became the route of the Great Plank Road in the 1850s, an ambitious early infrastructure project that laid massive wooden planks across the notoriously muddy road, creating a more reliable connection between Portland and the agricultural communities of the Tualatin Valley and helping establish Portland as the region’s commercial center.

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More than a century later, beginning in the 1970s, Carlson began another chapter in the property’s history, transforming the structure through a sequence of architectural additions. Wood, vertical siding and low, sloping rooflines give the house a distinctly Pacific Northwest character, while walls of glass, skylights and unexpected window geometries draw the surrounding trees into nearly every room. A soaring pointed window, triangular panes tucked beneath rooflines and floor-to-ceiling glazing frame the trees from within, while a rooftop terrace and multiple decks extending directly from the living spaces carry the architecture out into the landscape. Inside, the dramatic original stone fireplace, timber staircase and interior water feature continue the emphasis on natural materials, while the kitchen remains a wonderfully intact expression of the era, with wood cabinetry and paneling, tiled counters, geometric windows and pendant lighting. What began as a historic stopping place still holds onto its earliest story, while Carlson’s additions carry the house forward, opening it to the woods and allowing the landscape to become part of the architecture itself.

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Recorded Year Built

1940

Floor Plan

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