Poke around a 1923 Craftsman house in Southeast Portland’s Hawthorne District and you’ll see something unusual: A hobbit hole hidden among a garden populated by impish gnomes.

Descend steps to the see-through door that was a basement window. Open it and you'll experience an ode to J.R.R. Tolkien's brilliant imagination, a burrowed dwelling inspired by his magical Middle-earth.

Curving, giant tree roots spread across ceilings. A Douglas fir slab, the size of a round dining table, is centered above the queen-size bed. An arched door, once inside a church, is near the kitchenette’s asymmetrical cabinets and twinkling overhead in the living room is a crystal chandelier.

--Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072

jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman

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Visitors taller than 6-foot-three need to duck their heads in a few spots, but otherwise, this home lives up to the one described in "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole ... it was a hobbit-hole and that meant comfort."

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Owners Greg and Beth Raisman used clay soil and branches from their backyard to create an “earthen sculptural suite” that lets guests feel as if they’re living in the base of a tree, Lord of the Rings style.

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The Raismans rent out the space on Vrbo.com or you can see the underground apartment during the 2nd annual Portland Weird Homes Tour from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, June 29 (ticket $30 and up, www.weirdhomestour.com/portland/).

Tour goers will explore offbeat abodes on land, sea and air, from a retired Boeing 727-200 Airplane Home parked among Douglas fir trees to the Aqua Star floating mansion on the Willamette River.

[Read about the 9-dome West Linn Hobbit Home and more oddball dwellings on the tour.]

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Greg Raisman confesses he's not a sculptor, although creativity runs in his family. His sister, Kim Ellery, is a professional artist and his mom's paintings hang in the couple's Craftsman home that hovers above the Hobbit Hole.

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But Greg Raisman, a Livable Streets program coordinator with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (think block parties and street painting programs), became an “accidental public artist.”

In 2016, he initiated the effort to erect the impactful 200-foot-long Doors of Love wall at Tom McCall Waterfront Park during Portland Pride Week.

Thousands of handwritten notes of support and love were added to the art work before it was dismantled. A section of the wall was displayed in City Hall’s atrium.

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“After that, I had the urge to make another sculpture and was able to make the case that we could do it and finance it by hosting people visiting Portland,” says Raisman, who has been involved with all of Portland’s large street paintings; 70 by the end of this summer. “We are completely in love with the city and the parade of positivity that our guests bring has been a wonderful addition to our lives.”

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The site: Their basement with 7-foot-high ceilings, which is at least a foot shorter than a typical bedroom. The usable space, 470 square feet, is about the size of a two-car garage.

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“Originally, the idea was to build a cave with giant earthen boulder walls, but the engineering and dry time made the idea impractical,” he says. “Then we landed on the tree sculpture idea.”

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Raisman wanted to employ sustainable Earthen Building techniques. Used pallets, poles and other reclaimed materials found a place here. The 100-foot, circling root sculpture on the ceilings was made of natural clay taken from the couple's backyard during the excavation of the entryway stairs.

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Clay not only allows for flowing and sculptural designs, but it’s a good source of sound and temperature insulation and lasts long if kept dry. “There are 400-year-old homes in England made out of this material,” he says.

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Raisman brought his concept to architects at Communitecture and contractor JRA Green Building. Living Walls created the specialized plaster finishes and Felling Furniture Studio made the cabinets, game cabinet and headboard.

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The project took place during the Village Building Convergence and more than 65 people from the city and as far away as Australia, Japan and Canada helped build the Hobbit Hole, Raisman says.

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“The larger goal with the Hobbit Hole is to demonstrate an outstanding, sustainable building material that is present in Portlander's yards," he says. "Additionally, we want to demonstrate the use of sustainable woods for construction. In our case, we used juniper for our windowsills, baseboards and some door frames. This is a species that is decimating forests in Eastern Oregon and harvesting it is a way to improve forest heath.”

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