Mansion, apartment, shack...midcentury modern floating home? It sounds like the residence of choice for a precocious tween playing MASH in the Pacific Northwest. And this home is about as close as it gets to that aspirational version of quintessential Seattle living.

The home’s architect, University of Washington College of Architecture grad Gerald Van Slyck, “found great pleasure in nature” and lived by a “philosophy of simple living and functional design,” according to his 2010 obituary. Recognized by The Seattle Times in 1961 for his own (terrestrial) home’s integration with the natural surroundings, Van Slyck’s work reflected this ethos.

This 833-square-foot studio-style home displays that approach in its most concentrated form. Where some floating homes manage to maximize for quantity—squeezing two bedrooms into 560 square feet, for example—this one prioritizes quality. No walls separate the bed from the breakfast. But it has space for the pared-down essentials. And plenty of room to breathe.

Several covered and uncovered decks emphasize life on the water. They open out onto Portage Bay, where the home sits second from the end of a four-home co-op dock (and Agua Verde’s great tacos and margaritas wait a short kayak ride away).

Sunshine streams in from all corners thanks to large skylights, clerestory windows, and one broad swath of floor-to-ceiling glass. Shoji-style panels diffuse the light and soften the space. 

Even in close quarters, some midcentury magic prevents all the exposed wood from looking rustic. That’s especially impressive given that the home’s interior could technically be called a cabin.

While it would be easy to assume that Seattle is teeming with places just like it, the home’s midcentury vintage actually makes it a little unusual. Around the time it was designed, hundreds of Seattle houseboats were evicted to make room for development, and many were abandoned. The first wave of architect-designed floating homes arrived on Portage Bay in the late 1960s, but between the ’40s and late ’60s—the prime midcentury modern era—few new residences bubbled up on Seattle waterways.

“Midcentury modern floating home” may be more of a Seattle Mad Lib than a Seattle mainstay, after all. But in Portage Bay, at least, it’s anchored in reality.

Listing Fast Facts

3130 Portage Bay Place E #C, Seattle, WA 98102
Size: 833 square feet, 1 bed, 1 bath
List price: $1,480,000
List date: 10/22/2025
Listing agent: Courtney Cooper Neese, Seattle Afloat