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The celebrated Stahl house, a quintessential example of modernist design, is up for sale for the initial occasion in its complete history.

This suspended residence, nestled in the Hollywood Hills area, was listed on the listings this past week. The asking price stands at a substantial $25 million.

Stewards Decision to Sell

The Stahl family, who have owned the residence for its full 65-year timeline, shared a declaration regarding their choice to sell. They expressed that the house had grown increasingly challenging to care for.

"This home has been the core of our lives for decades, but as we’ve grown older, it has become progressively harder to look after it with the attention and vigor it so truly merits," wrote the descendants of the original owners.

They added that the period had emerged to find a new "custodian" for the house – "an individual who not only appreciates its design legacy but also grasps its place in the cultural landscape of Los Angeles and beyond."

Humble Beginnings

The beginnings of the Stahl house trace back to May 1954, when the original owners acquired a sloped plot of land in the previously undeveloped Hollywood Hills area for $13,500.

Despite the Stahl house evolving into a well-known representation of the city, the residents often emphasized that "nobody famous ever lived here," describing themselves as a "blue-collar family living in a white-collar house."

Architectural Undertaking

The initial design for the Stahl house was conceived during the warm season of 1956. However, many designers were originally wary to build it on the challenging hillside.

In November 1957, the owners interviewed architect Pierre Koenig, who agreed to accept the challenge. With assistance from the prominent Case Study program, spearheaded by a key magazine editor, the owners received subsidies to engage Koenig.

The modernist program "was about experimentation" and "using new materials and constructing in places that maybe earlier the technology didn’t really enable," remarked an expert from a local heritage organization. "Each of these factors are integrated into a property like the Stahl house, which was avant-garde, modern and inconceivable in terms of how it was constructed on that plot that everyone else considered, at the time, was impossible to build."

Finalization and Cultural Legacy

The Stahl house was assigned Case Study house No. 22, and construction commenced in May 1959. According to the family, construction cost "a mere $37,500" and the home was finished by May 1960. The final product was "a perfect representation of what everyone thinks LA is and should be," the authority noted.

Soon after the build ended, a renowned architectural photographer shot what is arguably the most well-known picture of the home. Captured through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the image shows two women sitting in the home’s living room but seeming to float over the LA skyline.

"In my opinion the enduring impact of the photograph is due to the way it expresses an idea about residing in Los Angeles, an ambivalence about being both urban and detached from it," commented a founder of an architectural practice and educator at a major university.

Cultural Designation

The home has had memorable appearances in cinema, TV and music videos, including several famous titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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

Future Custodianship

The home is still open for public viewings, as it has been for the last 17 years, although all tours are currently fully booked through February. In their announcement announcing the sale, the family indicated they would give "plenty of advance notice" before stopping the tours.

The property description for the home stresses finding a buyer who will conserve the character of the space.

"For collectors of design, patrons of architecture, or organizations seeking to safeguard an national treasure, there is simply no equal," the listing say. "This is more than a sale; it is a transfer of stewardship – a hunt for the next guardian who will celebrate the house’s legacy, respect its design integrity, and guarantee its preservation for posterity."

The specialist concurred that the choice of new owner would be a crucial one, given the home’s history.

"In my view any time a original family, and a stewardship like this, is changing ownership of a residence like this, it always causes a little bit of a concern – because you never know what the next owner, what their aims will be. And can they grasp and appreciate the house, as in this specific case the Stahl family has?"