While research of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) structures prioritizes force-based design for earthquake hazards, this project navigates a complementary displacement-based route—charted by United States building code provisions for seismic isolation. Curvilinear cuts to the load-bearing edges of stock CLT panels enable walls to roll through pendulum motion. Elliptical geometry provides the mechanism to lift supported storeys, passively self-centre through oscillatory damping, and avert damage to the panel corners. Wider elliptical profiles reliably negate residual displacements, as a consequence of greater eccentricity between the contact forces. Panels shaped to lesser elliptical eccentricities, however, isolate superstructures more effectively by lengthening the rocking period as much as 1.5 seconds and adding greater than a metre of lateral displacement capacity. Physical models at 1/12th scale, computer simulations, and tests of the contact behaviour between CLT panel edges and boundary materials, answer practical questions about how connections and friction profoundly alter the rocking kinematics. Full-scale prototypes of 5-Layer CLT panels—respectively measuring 2.44 by 3.66 by 0.17 metres in width, height, and thickness—compare 3 rocking versions of rolling isolation. This paper presents the strategy and initial data qualifying CLT for versatile use as soft-storey isolation within multi-storey schemes—to achieve earthquake-resilient performance.