STAHL HOUSE/CSH #22 Los Angeles CA Pierre Koenig 1960
It's one of the most recognizable houses in the world. Julius Shulman's 1960 photos made the Stahl House an instant symbol of the insouciant L.A. lifestyle the world over, and it remains so after 50 years.
It's also one of the most unusual houses.
When newlyweds Buck and Carlotta Stahl fell in love with a vacant lot in the Hollywood Hills in 1958, Buck sketched-out his idea of a dream home for his young family. It was a low-slung, curving house that wrapped around a pool, reaching out to the view. Architect after architect took a look and said it was unbuildable given the narrow peninsula of flat pad that gives way to a sheer drop on three sides.
Then he met with Pierre Koenig. Fresh and confident from his widely celebrated Bailey Residence (see separate posting), Koenig took one look and embraced Buck's vision, vowing to make something work. Koenig came up with an L-shaped, modernist steel-and-glass pavilion in the International style. The long, narrow house runs along the back of the pad, only one-room deep to leave room for the pool. The living room, however, juts out over the cliff like Wile E. Coyote running in thin air over the canyon, oblivious that the ground has dropped away beneath his feet. Being in the house is like being in a hot air balloon, floating high above the valley floor. By day, the view is a patchwork quilt of the city-scape, by night it becomes a blanket of twinkling lights. Often imitated, it's never been matched.
Most architects design houses that shout "look at me!" They are showcases of elaborate stone and brickwork, intricate detailing, and superficial extras like non-structural columns or inoperable shutters. Almost always, they are trying to be something else - ersatz Tuscan villas, mock-English Tudors, Georgian-style manses or Greek revival replicas. Pierre Koenig designed the Stahl Residence not to be seen. Instead, it was designed to be little more than a viewing platform for the spectacular, ever-changing work of art that is the world outside. Koenig himself explained "when inside, you don't see the house, only the view."
Few houses are simpler. And few are more widely admired. In 1989, L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art constructed a full-scale walk-through replica for an exhibit entitled "Blueprints for Modern Living". And in 2007, the American Institute of Architects named it one of 150 favorite structures in the United States, only 11 of which were in Southern California. Still home to the Stahl family, the house is in constant use for fashion shoots, television shows, and movies including "Nurse Betty", "The Marrying Man", "Galaxy Quest", and the 1962 Italian cult favorite, "Smog". It's so familiar, even on a first-time visit, it feels like you're home.
