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The celebrated Stahl house, a paragon of midcentury modern architectural design, is now available for the first time in its entire history.

This cantilevered residence, perched in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood, hit the real estate market this week. The asking price stands at an impressive $25 million.

Stewards Decision to Part With

The Stahl family, who have owned the residence for its entire 65-year existence, issued a declaration regarding their choice to sell. They stated that the house had proven excessively demanding to maintain.

"This residence has been the center of our lives for a long time, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become more difficult to look after it with the care and effort it so truly merits," wrote the descendants of the original owners.

They added that the period had arrived to find a new "steward" for the house – "a person who not only recognizes its design legacy but also understands its role in the cultural history of Los Angeles and further afield."

Modest Inception

The inception of the Stahl house trace back to May 1954, when the initial owners purchased a mountainous plot of land in the then undeveloped Hollywood Hills district for $13,500.

Despite the Stahl house becoming a well-known symbol of the city, the owners often stressed that "nobody famous ever lived here," describing themselves as a "blue-collar family living in a luxury house."

Construction Feat

The first design for the Stahl house was conceived during the summer months of 1956. However, many designers were initially reluctant to build it on the challenging hillside.

In November 1957, the owners met with architect Pierre Koenig, who consented to take on the challenge. With backing from the prominent Case Study program, spearheaded by a prominent magazine editor, the Stahls received subsidies to commission Koenig.

The modernist program "focused on trial and error" and "utilizing new building materials and erecting in locations that maybe previously the technology didn’t really enable," stated an expert from a regional heritage organization. "Each of these factors are wrapped up into a property like the Stahl house, which was avant-garde, progressive and inconceivable in terms of how it was built on that plot that everyone else thought, at the time, was impossible to build."

Completion and Iconic Impact

The Stahl house was designated Case Study house No. 22, and work started in May 1959. According to the family, construction amounted to "just $37,500" and the home was move-in ready by May 1960. The result was "a perfect representation of what everyone imagines LA is and should be," the expert noted.

Soon after the build ended, a famous architectural photographer shot what is possibly the most famous image of the home. Captured through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the photo depicts two women sitting in the home’s living room but seeming to float over the city skyline.

"In my opinion the long-standing impact of the photograph is due to the way it expresses an concept about living in Los Angeles, an duality about being both in the city and detached from it," commented a principal of an architectural firm and educator at a prominent university.

Historic Status

The home has had historic features in cinema, broadcast and promos, including several well-known titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1999, the city designated the Stahl house a protected monument, and in 2013, the house was listed as a preserved site on the National Register of Historic Places.

Coming Custodianship

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

The sales details for the home stresses finding a purchaser who will maintain the character of the space.

"For connoisseurs of style, supporters of design, or organizations seeking to preserve an American masterpiece, there is simply nothing comparable," the description read. "This is more than a purchase; it is a handover of custody – a search for the next guardian who will respect the house’s history, appreciate its architectural purity, and guarantee its protection for posterity."

The expert affirmed that the selection of new owner would be a vital one, given the home’s history.

"In my view any time a long-term steward, and a custodianship like this, is transferring hands of a property like this, it always gives us a little bit of a hesitation – because you never know what the next owner, what their aims will be. And can they grasp and appreciate the house, as in this unique case the Stahl family has?"