Four families built their own village, spending $50,000 each 70 years ago. Take a rare look inside the idyllic enclave.

<p class="ingestion featured-caption">The driveway leading up to the quadrant. Timothy Niou</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>In 1957, four Oregon families hired a locally famous architect to build them a mini-neighborhood.</li><li>There were 12 kids among the families, and one fondly remembered growing up in the little village.</li></ul><p>In 1957, four families based in Portland, Oregon, moved into a village of their own making.</p><p>Each couple paid less than $50,000 for a brand-new home designed by an up-and-coming midcentury architect, <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2024/06/4-portland-couples-pooled-their-resources-to-build-lookalike-midcentury-homes-see-how-rooms-look-now.html">according to The Oregonian, a local newspaper.</a></p><p>The architect, John Storrs, would go on to become a regional icon, known for warm, natural materials and show-stopping windows. The collection of the four homes became known as the Storrs Quadrant.</p><p>How exactly the four<strong> </strong>couples came together to hatch<strong> </strong>their home-building plan remains a mystery. As Nicole Possert, executive director at preservation group Restore Oregon, understands it, they all thought it was an ingenious way to build a custom home at a discount.</p><p>"The idea was to save money on the architect fee, have all of the homes designed together, and reduce that size of the cost," Possert told Business Insider.</p><p>The homes — one of which recently traded for as much as $1.2 million — are now all owned by different people.</p><p>A child of the original owners fondly remembers her early years there.</p><p>Anne Lezak, whose father stayed close friends with Storrs, said that, because 12 children grew up across the four homes, the quadrant was always a hotbed of activity.</p><p>"All of a<strong> </strong>sudden, there would be a softball game. You could always find someone to play with," Lezak, who now lives in Vermont, told Business Insider.</p><p>Recently, the four homes were opened up to the public with a one-time Restore Oregon tour that showed off their architectural significance and ties to Storrs' other work in the Pacific Northwest.</p><p>Take a look inside the one-of-a-kind community.</p>