🔗 Share this article

The celebrated Stahl house, a quintessential example of midcentury modern architecture, is currently listed for the very first time in its entire history.

This cantilevered home, nestled in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood, hit the listings this week. The asking price stands at an impressive $25 million.

Stewards Move to Let Go

The Stahl family, who have held title to the property for its full 65-year history, issued a declaration regarding their resolution to sell. They stated that the property had proven increasingly challenging to care for.

"This residence has been the center of our lives for decades, but as we’ve aged, it has become progressively harder to look after it with the care and energy it so rightfully warrants," wrote the children of the initial owners.

They added that the period had come to find a new "steward" for the house – "an individual who not only values its architectural significance but also understands its place in the cultural landscape of the city and beyond."

Unassuming Beginnings

The beginnings of the Stahl house go back to May 1954, when the original owners purchased a sloped plot of land in the then undeveloped Hollywood Hills neighborhood for $13,500.

Despite the Stahl house growing into a renowned icon of the city, the family often emphasized that "no famous individuals ever lived here," referring to themselves as a "average family living in a luxury house."

Architectural Challenge

The first design for the Stahl house was developed during the warm season of 1956. However, many designers were at first wary to build it on the precarious hillside.

In November 1957, the owners consulted architect Pierre Koenig, who decided to undertake the task. With support from the notable Case Study program, pioneered by a leading magazine editor, the owners received subsidies to commission Koenig.

The progressive program "was about trial and error" and "employing new resources and building in locations that maybe before the techniques didn’t really enable," stated an expert from a regional preservation society. "All these elements are integrated into a place like the Stahl house, which was innovative, contemporary and unimaginable in terms of how it was constructed on that location that everyone else thought, at the time, was unbuildable."

Completion and Famous Impact

The Stahl house was assigned Case Study house No. 22, and building started in May 1959. According to the owners, construction amounted to "just $37,500" and the home was finished by May 1960. The final product was "a perfect representation of what everyone imagines LA is and should be," the authority added.

Soon after completion, a renowned architectural photographer took what is arguably the most iconic picture of the home. Captured through the enormous glass windows, the photograph shows two women sitting in the home’s living room but appearing to float over the LA skyline.

"In my opinion the enduring impact of the photograph is due to the way it expresses an idea about living in Los Angeles, an ambivalence about being both metropolitan and separate from it," stated a principal of an architectural company and lecturer at a major university.

Cultural Status

The home has made notable features in movies, television and promos, including several popular titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1999, the city declared the Stahl house a heritage site, and in 2013, the house was included as a protected property on the National Register of Historic Places.

Coming Stewardship

The home is still open for visits, as it has been for the last 17 years, although all tours are currently reserved through February. In their announcement concerning the sale, the family stated they would give "sufficient warning" before discontinuing the tours.

The listing for the home stresses finding a purchaser who will maintain the essence of the space.

"For enthusiasts of architecture, patrons of building, or institutions seeking to preserve an national treasure, there is simply no equal," the listing state. "This is more than a purchase; it is a handover of custody – a hunt for the next custodian who will celebrate the house’s history, value its original vision, and guarantee its conservation for future generations."

The expert concurred that the choice of purchaser would be a crucial one, given the home’s legacy.

"I believe any time a long-term steward, and a stewardship like this, is transferring hands of a home like this, it always gives us a little bit of a hesitation – because you cannot predict what the next owner, what their intentions will be. And do they understand and cherish the house, as in this unique case the Stahl family has?"