Stahl House

The Stahl House (also known as Case Study House No. 22) is an American modernist-styled house designed by architect Pierre Koenig, to preliminary designs by his client, Buck Stahl, in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, California, which is known as a frequent set location in American films. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. History C.H. "Buck" Stahl (died 2005), a purchasing agent for Hughes Aircraft, later a sign painter and graphic designer, and a former professional football player, purchased the lot on a hill for $13,500 (equivalent to $162,000 in 2025) in 1954. Stahl and his wife Carlotta spent two years building retaining walls for the site, using reclaimed concrete rubble, then began meeting with architects to design a home for a parcel deemed "unbuildable" by other architects. Pierre Koenig agreed to take on the task in November 1957. Photographic and anecdotal evidence shows that Stahl provided the inspiration for the overall structure, setting out his ideas by mid-1956 in a model of the house he wanted for the site. Unlike the house as built, the model has a curved rear wall and butterfly roof. Elizabeth Smith, formerly curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and an expert on the Case Study houses, says: Koenig adhered to the basic attributes of Stahl's concept but refined the design into something much more rigorous, geometric and 'pure' in its form and materials—in essence adapting it to his own vocabulary. Koenig's design was built from May 1959 at a cost of $37,500 (equivalent to $408,100 in 2025) as part of the Case Study Houses program, in which it was house number 22, and completed by May 1960. The 2,200-square-foot, steel-framed house, which is cantilevered ten feet over the hillside, has two bedrooms, concrete floors with radiant underfloor heating, a flat roof, and floor-to-ceiling plate glass walls on three sides. The glass panels were the largest on the market at the time. An outdoor swimming pool was built at additional cost. An external walkway to facilitate cleaning and maintenance was a later addition. The house is considered an iconic representation of modern architecture in Los Angeles during the twentieth century. It was made famous by Julius Shulman's 1960 photograph showing two women—the photographer's models—leisurely sitting in a corner of the house with an evening panoramic view of the city through glass walls. In 1999, the house was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. In 2007, the American Institute of Architects listed the Stahl House at #140 of the top 150 structures on its "America's Favorite Architecture" list, one of only eleven in Southern California, and the only privately owned home on the list. The house was included among the ten best houses in Los Angeles in a Los Angeles Times survey of experts in December 2008. In 2013 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, number 13000519. The house has been unoccupied since 2007, but available for public tours. On November 21, 2025, it was listed for sale at $25,000,000, marking the first time in its history that it had been on the market. In a statement on the house's website, the Stahl family said "it has become increasingly challenging to care for it with the attention and energy it so richly deserves", and indicated that they were looking not just for a buyer but for a "steward" who appreciated its cultural and architectural importance. Influence The house has been featured in numerous fashion shoots and movies. Films include Smog (1962); The First Power (1990); The Marrying Man (1991); Corrina, Corrina (1994); Playing by Heart (1998); Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998); Galaxy Quest (1999), Nurse Betty (2000); and Where the Truth Lies (2005). Television shows include Adam-12, Emergency!,, and the pilot episode of the TV series Columbo, Prescription: Murder (1968). The house is prominently featured in the music videos for "I Don't Wanna Stop" (2003) by ATB, "Missing Cleveland" by Scott Weiland, and also "Release Me" by Wilson Phillips. A look-alike was also included in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as one of the safehouses players can buy. Gallery See also Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood References Further reading Rozzo, Mark (July–August 2021). "House of dreams". Vanity Fair. 730: 66–73. External links Official website