A Fabled Mid-Century Modern Jewel Hits the Real Estate Market for the Very First Time

The celebrated Stahl house, a paragon of modernist architectural design, is now available for the very first time in its complete history.

This cantilevered dwelling, nestled in the Hollywood Hills, was listed on the real estate market this past week. The asking price stands at an impressive $25 million.

Stewards Move to Sell

The Stahl family, who have held title to the home for its complete 65-year timeline, shared a declaration regarding their decision to sell. They stated that the dwelling had proven excessively demanding to upkeep.

"This home has been the heart of our lives for many years, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become progressively harder to look after it with the care and energy it so truly merits," stated the offspring of the original owners.

They continued that the moment had come to find a new "custodian" for the house – "an individual who not only recognizes its design legacy but also understands its position in the cultural history of LA and elsewhere."

Humble Beginnings

The inception of the Stahl house date to May 1954, when the original owners purchased a hilly patch of land in the then undeveloped Hollywood Hills district for $13,500.

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

Design Undertaking

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

In November 1957, the owners consulted architect Pierre Koenig, who agreed to undertake the challenge. With support from the influential Case Study program, pioneered by a key magazine editor, the family received financial aid to engage Koenig.

The contemporary program "focused on innovation" and "using new materials and building in sites that maybe earlier the technology didn’t really permit," commented an authority from a local preservation society. "Each of these factors are wrapped up into a place like the Stahl house, which was cutting-edge, contemporary and unthinkable in terms of how it was erected on that site that everyone else believed, at the time, was unbuildable."

Realization and Iconic Impact

The Stahl house became Case Study house No. 22, and work started in May 1959. According to the owners, construction totaled "only $37,500" and the home was finished by May 1960. The result was "the ultimate vision of what everyone envisions LA is and should be," the authority noted.

Soon after the build ended, a celebrated architectural photographer captured what is possibly the most famous photograph of the home. Taken through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the image depicts two women seated in the home’s living room but seeming to hover over the city skyline.

"I believe the lasting impact of the image is due to the way it expresses an idea about residing in Los Angeles, an ambivalence about being both metropolitan and removed from it," commented a founder of an architectural company and lecturer at a major university.

Historic Recognition

The home has enjoyed memorable cameos in cinema, 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.

Next Stewardship

The home continues to be open for tours, as it has been for the last 17 years, although all appointments are currently reserved through February. In their statement concerning the sale, the family indicated they would give "ample notice" before stopping the tours.

The property description for the home stresses finding a purchaser who will maintain the spirit of the space.

"For connoisseurs of style, supporters of design, or institutions seeking to protect an national treasure, there is simply no parallel," the details say. "This goes beyond a sale; it is a passing of responsibility – a search for the next steward who will honor the house’s past, value its design integrity, and guarantee its preservation for posterity."

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

"I believe any time a original family, and a custodianship like this, is transferring hands of a home like this, it always creates a little bit of a hesitation – because you never know what the next owner, what their aims will be. And can they understand and cherish the house, as in this unique case the Stahl family has?"