The Stahl House was a dream commission for Pierre Koenig up in the Hollywood Hills. It became part of Arts & Architecture magazine’s famed Case Study House Program and was photographed by Julius Shulman in what was to become one of the most famous images of LA and in all modern architecture.
The L-shaped house is steel framed with the ‘back’ of the house steel walled, all the other walls are glass providing views of Hollywood and the wider Los Angeles area, sitting in the hills above Sunset Boulevard.
On finding the house in the maze like hills above the Chateau Marmont the first thing you notice is that the house has no real entrance. A later addition of a outside gate at the back of the car port has become the entrance. On entering, the vistor immediately looks across the swimming pool to the house and sprawl of Los Angeles beyond.
At first your architectural guide asks everyone to hold back so that everyone can get the shots of the house empty, but after a few minutes you are allowed to pretend you own the place or that you are a model in a Shulman picture. Only the second bedroom is out of bounds and unlike most open houses you are encouraged to sit on the furniture (provided by Design Within Reach in return for photoshoots presumably) and enjoy every possible interior view and photograph at will.
Date of visit: September 2014
You can visit the Stahl House if you pre-book either a daytime or an evening viewing.
