🔗 Share this article

The famous Stahl house, a quintessential example of midcentury modern architectural design, is currently listed for the first time in its whole history.

This cantilevered residence, perched in the Hollywood Hills, was listed on the listings this recent week. The listing price stands at an impressive $25 million.

Stewards Choice to Part With

The Stahl family, who have held title to the property for its entire 65-year existence, shared a announcement regarding their resolution to sell. They expressed that the dwelling had proven too difficult to maintain.

"This home has been the heart of our lives for many years, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become progressively harder to care for it with the attention and energy it so rightfully warrants," commented the children of the first owners.

They added that the time had emerged to find a new "custodian" for the house – "a person who not only recognizes its design legacy but also understands its place in the cultural fabric of the city and elsewhere."

Humble Origins

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

Despite the Stahl house becoming a renowned representation of the city, the family often stressed that "nobody famous ever lived here," characterizing themselves as a "working-class family living in a white-collar house."

Design Challenge

The initial design for the Stahl house was conceived during the summer of 1956. However, many architects were originally hesitant to erect it on the challenging hillside.

In November 1957, the Stahls consulted architect Pierre Koenig, who decided to accept the challenge. With support from the prominent Case Study program, spearheaded by a key magazine editor, the family received support to hire Koenig.

The modernist program "was about innovation" and "using new building materials and building in sites that maybe previously the technology didn’t really permit," remarked an expert from a local preservation society. "Each of these factors are integrated into a property like the Stahl house, which was innovative, progressive and unimaginable in terms of how it was constructed on that site that everyone else believed, at the time, was unbuildable."

Finalization and Famous Legacy

The Stahl house was designated Case Study house No. 22, and building started in May 1959. According to the family, construction cost "only $37,500" and the home was move-in ready by May 1960. The final product was "an idealized version of what everyone imagines LA is and should be," the expert commented.

Soon after completion, a celebrated architectural photographer shot what is arguably the most well-known photograph of the home. Shot through the enormous glass windows, the image shows two women seated in the home’s living room but seeming to float over the city skyline.

"In my opinion the long-standing effect of this image is due to the way it expresses an concept about residing in Los Angeles, an contrast about being both urban and detached from it," commented a principal of an architectural firm and lecturer at a leading university.

Cultural Status

The home has had memorable appearances in film, broadcast and promos, including several famous titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1999, the city declared the Stahl house a historic-cultural landmark, and in 2013, the house was listed as a protected property on the National Register of Historic Places.

Coming Custodianship

The home remains open for public viewings, as it has been for the last 17 years, although all appointments are currently reserved through February. In their release regarding the sale, the family stated they would give "plenty of advance notice" before stopping the tours.

The listing for the home emphasizes finding a new owner who will maintain the essence of the space.

"For collectors of style, patrons of design, or entities seeking to protect an iconic work, there is simply no parallel," the description read. "This is more than a purchase; it is a transfer of stewardship – a hunt for the next guardian who will respect the house’s past, value its architectural purity, and ensure its preservation for future generations."

The expert agreed that the selection of new owner would be a crucial one, given the home’s past.

"In my view any time a original family, and a guardianship like this, is transferring hands of a home like this, it always creates a little bit of a hesitation – because you cannot predict what the next owner, what their plans will be. And do they comprehend and appreciate the house, as in this particular case the Stahl family has?"