Summary of the Article: Stahl House on Sale for $25 Million

By Cecilia Nowell and Suraj Karowa/ANW, November 25, 2025

Home perched in Hollywood Hills, constructed for $37,500 and made famous by Julius Shulman photo, listed for $25m

The iconic Stahl House (Case Study House No. 22), a mid-century modern masterpiece in the Hollywood Hills, is hitting the market for the first time in its 65-year history.

Perched dramatically on a steep hillside, this cantilevered glass-and-steel home—designed by architect Pierre Koenig and completed in 1960—symbolizes the aspirational glamour of Los Angeles architecture.

Key details:
History and Build:
Original owners, C.H. “Buck” and Carlotta Stahl, purchased the land in 1954 for $13,500. Buck, a graphic designer, sketched the initial concept in 1956.

Construction began in 1959 with subsidies from the Arts & Architecture magazine’s Case Study program, costing just $37,500.

Koenig took on the challenging build despite the site’s precarious slope.

The house has been in movies, commercials, and music videos.

It became a symbol of innovation, using post-war materials and techniques to create an “unbuildable” home that floats over the LA skyline.

Cultural Impact:
Immortalized by Julius Shulman’s 1960 photograph, showing two women in the living room seemingly hovering above the city lights—a image that’s defined LA’s mid-century aesthetic.

Featured in films like Playing by Heart (1998), Galaxy Quest (1999), and Nurse Betty (2000).

Designated a Los Angeles historic-cultural monument in 1999 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Open for public tours (currently booked through February 2026); family plans to give notice before ending them.
Sale Announcement:
25 million by the original owners’ children, Bruce and Shari Stahl.

Beautiful view from Stahl house

Reason: Aging family members find maintenance too demanding for the landmark property.
Seeking a “steward” committed to preservation—ideal for collectors, architects, or institutions. The listing stresses honoring its “architectural purity.”

Quotes and Context:

Stahl family: “This home has been the center of our lives… but the time has come to find a new steward.”
Adrian Scott Fine (LA Conservancy): Describes it as “avant-garde, modern and unthinkable,” embodying LA’s idealized lifestyle.

Kevin Daly (UCLA adjunct professor): Shulman’s photo captures “an ambivalence about being both in the city and removed from it.”
Buck Stahl (original owner): Famously called it a “blue-collar family living in a white-collar house”—no celebrities ever resided there.

The original design was created in the summer of 1956.

This sale marks a pivotal moment for preservationists, as the next owner will shape the legacy of one of LA’s most photographed homes. For more on mid-century modern architecture, check related Guardian stories on LA wildfires’ impact on historic sites or AI in art museums.
If you’d like a deeper dive (e.g., similar properties for sale, tour details, or image analysis), let me know!