🔗 Share this article

The celebrated Stahl house, a quintessential example of modernist architectural design, is now available for the first time in its entire history.

This cantilevered home, nestled in the Hollywood Hills area, was listed on the real estate market this week. The price tag stands at a substantial $25 million.

Family Choice to Part With

The Stahl family, who have been the proprietors of the property for its entire 65-year timeline, issued a announcement regarding their resolution to sell. They noted that the house had grown increasingly challenging to maintain.

"This house has been the center of our lives for many years, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become progressively harder to look after it with the attention and energy it so rightfully warrants," wrote the offspring of the original owners.

They continued that the period had come to find a new "steward" for the house – "someone who not only recognizes its architectural significance but also grasps its position in the cultural history of LA and elsewhere."

Humble Inception

The beginnings of the Stahl house trace back to May 1954, when the first owners bought a sloped parcel of land in the then undeveloped Hollywood Hills area for $13,500.

Despite the Stahl house growing into a renowned icon of the city, the family often emphasized that "nobody famous ever lived here," characterizing themselves as a "average family living in a architectural masterpiece."

Construction Undertaking

The first design for the Stahl house was developed during the summer months of 1956. However, many architects were at first wary to erect it on the precarious hillside.

In November 1957, the Stahls consulted architect Pierre Koenig, who consented to accept the task. With support from the influential Case Study program, pioneered by a prominent magazine editor, the family received financial aid to engage Koenig.

The progressive program "was about innovation" and "employing new materials and building in locations that maybe before the techniques didn’t really enable," stated an specialist from a local conservancy. "Each of these factors are integrated into a site like the Stahl house, which was avant-garde, contemporary and unthinkable in terms of how it was constructed on that plot that everyone else thought, at the time, was unbuildable."

Finalization and Cultural Influence

The Stahl house became Case Study house No. 22, and building started in May 1959. According to the family, construction totaled "a mere $37,500" and the home was finished by May 1960. The result was "an idealized version of what everyone imagines LA is and should be," the authority noted.

Soon after the build ended, a celebrated architectural photographer took what is arguably the most iconic picture of the home. Captured through the enormous glass windows, the image shows two women positioned in the home’s living room but seeming to hover over the city skyline.

"I think the long-standing effect of this image is due to the way it communicates an concept about dwelling in Los Angeles, an ambivalence about being both urban and removed from it," said a principal of an architectural practice and lecturer at a prominent university.

Protected Designation

The home has enjoyed historic appearances in film, television and music videos, including several popular titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1999, the city recognized the Stahl house a protected monument, and in 2013, the house was added as a preserved site on the National Register of Historic Places.

Coming Stewardship

The home continues to be open for tours, as it has been for the previous 17 years, although all tours are currently reserved through February. In their announcement regarding the sale, the family indicated they would give "plenty of advance notice" before discontinuing the tours.

The sales details for the home stresses finding a new owner who will preserve the character of the space.

"For enthusiasts of style, advocates of design, or institutions seeking to preserve an American masterpiece, there is simply no parallel," the details say. "This goes beyond a sale; it is a transfer of stewardship – a quest for the next steward who will respect the house’s past, value its design integrity, and ensure its preservation for generations to come."

The specialist agreed that the decision of buyer would be a critical one, given the home’s past.

"In my view any time a long-term steward, and a custodianship like this, is changing ownership of a home like this, it always causes a little bit of a hesitation – because you never know what the next owner, what their aims will be. And will they grasp and appreciate the house, as in this particular case the Stahl family has?"