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The celebrated Stahl house, a epitome of modernist design, is currently listed for the very first time in its entire history.

This cantilevered home, situated in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood, hit the listings this recent week. The asking price stands at a notable $25 million.

Owners Choice to Part With

The Stahl family, who have owned the residence for its complete 65-year history, shared a announcement regarding their decision to sell. They noted that the dwelling had grown excessively demanding to maintain.

"This house has been the core of our lives for a long time, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become more difficult to maintain it with the dedication and vigor it so richly deserves," wrote the offspring of the original owners.

They continued that the moment had emerged to find a new "custodian" for the house – "a person who not only recognizes its architectural importance but also comprehends its place in the cultural fabric of the city and beyond."

Humble Beginnings

The origins of the Stahl house go back to May 1954, when the initial owners acquired a mountainous parcel of land in the at the time undeveloped Hollywood Hills district for $13,500.

Despite the Stahl house growing into a well-known symbol of the city, the family often emphasized that "no celebrities ever lived here," referring to themselves as a "blue-collar family living in a white-collar house."

Design Challenge

The first design for the Stahl house was developed during the warm season of 1956. However, many architects were originally reluctant to build it on the challenging hillside.

In November 1957, the Stahls consulted architect Pierre Koenig, who agreed to accept the task. With backing from the notable Case Study program, pioneered by a prominent magazine editor, the Stahls received subsidies to commission Koenig.

The modernist program "centered around trial and error" and "utilizing new materials and erecting in sites that maybe previously the technology didn’t really allow," remarked an specialist from a regional heritage organization. "All those things are combined into a property like the Stahl house, which was innovative, progressive and inconceivable in terms of how it was built on that location that everyone else believed, at the time, was not feasible."

Completion and Cultural Influence

The Stahl house was assigned Case Study house No. 22, and building commenced in May 1959. According to the family, construction amounted to "only $37,500" and the home was move-in ready by May 1960. The outcome was "the ultimate vision of what everyone envisions LA is and should be," the expert noted.

Soon after construction was finished, a famous architectural photographer took what is perhaps the most famous photograph of the home. Captured through the full-length glass windows, the photograph shows two women sitting in the home’s living room but seeming to levitate over the Los Angeles skyline.

"I believe the lasting influence of that photograph is due to the way it expresses an notion about residing in Los Angeles, an ambivalence about being both urban and detached from it," said a founder of an architectural firm and educator at a leading university.

Historic Recognition

The home has made memorable appearances in cinema, broadcast and promos, including several popular titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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

Coming Custodianship

The home remains open for public viewings, as it has been for the previous 17 years, although all appointments are currently sold out through February. In their release announcing the sale, the family said they would give "plenty of advance notice" before ending the tours.

The property description for the home highlights finding a new owner who will conserve the essence of the space.

"For connoisseurs of design, supporters of design, or organizations seeking to safeguard an iconic work, there is simply nothing comparable," the details read. "This goes beyond a sale; it is a transfer of stewardship – a hunt for the next guardian who will celebrate the house’s past, appreciate its architectural purity, and secure its preservation for posterity."

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

"I think any time a longtime owner, and a custodianship like this, is transferring hands of a home like this, it always gives us a little bit of a pause – because you never know what the next owner, what their intentions will be. And will they understand and value the house, as in this particular case the Stahl family has?"