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The celebrated Stahl house, a paragon of modernist architectural design, is up for sale for the first time in its whole history.

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

Owners Decision to Part With

The Stahl family, who have been the proprietors of the residence for its complete 65-year existence, issued a announcement regarding their choice to sell. They expressed that the property had grown excessively demanding to maintain.

"This home has been the core of our lives for decades, but as we’ve aged, it has become more difficult to maintain it with the attention and energy it so truly merits," stated the children of the first owners.

They continued that the time had emerged to find a new "guardian" for the house – "someone who not only appreciates its architectural significance but also understands its place in the cultural history of LA and beyond."

Unassuming Origins

The inception of the Stahl house go back to May 1954, when the first owners bought a mountainous plot of land in the then undeveloped Hollywood Hills neighborhood for $13,500.

Despite the Stahl house growing into a famous representation of the city, the owners often stressed that "nobody famous ever lived here," describing themselves as a "working-class family living in a luxury house."

Design Undertaking

The original design for the Stahl house was created during the warm season of 1956. However, many designers were at first wary to construct it on the difficult hillside.

In November 1957, the Stahls consulted architect Pierre Koenig, who decided to accept the project. With support from the prominent Case Study program, spearheaded by a prominent magazine editor, the Stahls received subsidies to commission Koenig.

The progressive program "focused on innovation" and "using new building materials and erecting in locations that maybe earlier the engineering didn’t really allow," commented an expert from a city preservation society. "All those things are combined into a site like the Stahl house, which was innovative, progressive and inconceivable in terms of how it was built on that plot that everyone else thought, at the time, was unbuildable."

Realization and Famous Influence

The Stahl house was designated Case Study house No. 22, and construction began in May 1959. According to the family, construction cost "just $37,500" and the home was finished by May 1960. The outcome was "the ultimate vision of what everyone imagines LA is and should be," the expert noted.

Soon after construction was finished, a famous architectural photographer took what is perhaps the most well-known photograph of the home. Taken through the full-length glass windows, the photograph features two women seated in the home’s living room but looking to float over the LA skyline.

"I think the enduring impact of that photo is due to the way it expresses an concept about living in Los Angeles, an ambivalence about being both urban and removed from it," commented a head of an architectural practice and adjunct professor at a leading university.

Cultural Recognition

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

In 1999, the city declared the Stahl house a historic-cultural landmark, and in 2013, the house was included as a preserved site on the National Register of Historic Places.

Coming Stewardship

The home remains open for tours, as it has been for the previous 17 years, although all appointments are currently fully booked through February. In their announcement regarding the sale, the family stated they would give "sufficient warning" before stopping the tours.

The sales details for the home highlights finding a purchaser who will conserve the essence of the space.

"For enthusiasts of design, supporters of design, or entities seeking to protect an national treasure, there is simply nothing comparable," the description read. "This is not merely a transaction; it is a handover of custody – a search for the next custodian who will respect the house’s legacy, value its architectural purity, and ensure its preservation for generations to come."

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

"I believe any time a long-term steward, and a custodianship like this, is changing ownership of a residence like this, it always creates a little bit of a hesitation – because you cannot predict what the next owner, what their plans will be. And can they comprehend and appreciate the house, as in this particular case the Stahl family has?"