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

This suspended dwelling, perched in the Hollywood Hills area, hit the market this week. The price tag stands at an impressive $25 million.

Family Choice to Let Go

The Stahl family, who have been the proprietors of the property for its entire 65-year timeline, issued a statement regarding their choice to sell. They noted that the property had proven too difficult to care for.

"This house has been the center of our lives for decades, but as we’ve grown older, it has become progressively harder to care for it with the care and vigor it so rightfully warrants," stated the offspring of the initial owners.

They further stated that the moment had emerged to find a new "custodian" for the house – "a person who not only recognizes its architectural importance but also grasps its place in the cultural fabric of LA and elsewhere."

Unassuming Beginnings

The inception of the Stahl house date to May 1954, when the original owners acquired a sloped patch of land in the at the time undeveloped Hollywood Hills neighborhood for $13,500.

Despite the Stahl house growing into a well-known symbol of the city, the owners often pointed out that "no celebrities ever lived here," describing themselves as a "working-class family living in a luxury house."

Architectural Feat

The original design for the Stahl house was created during the summer of 1956. However, many architects were originally reluctant to construct it on the precarious hillside.

In November 1957, the family consulted architect Pierre Koenig, who agreed to accept the challenge. With backing from the prominent Case Study program, spearheaded by a prominent magazine editor, the owners received support to hire Koenig.

The progressive program "focused on trial and error" and "employing new resources and building in sites that maybe earlier the techniques didn’t really enable," remarked an authority from a regional preservation society. "All those things are integrated into a place like the Stahl house, which was innovative, modern and unthinkable in terms of how it was constructed on that plot that everyone else considered, at the time, was not feasible."

Realization and Iconic Impact

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

Soon after completion, a celebrated architectural photographer captured what is possibly the most iconic photograph of the home. Shot through the full-length glass windows, the photograph shows two women seated in the home’s living room but seeming to levitate over the city skyline.

"In my opinion the lasting impact of the image is due to the way it conveys an idea about living in Los Angeles, an contrast about being both metropolitan and detached from it," said a founder of an architectural firm and educator at a major university.

Historic Status

The home has made memorable cameos in cinema, TV and music videos, including several well-known titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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

Future Ownership

The home is still open for visits, as it has been for the last 17 years, although all slots are currently sold out through February. In their release concerning the sale, the family stated they would give "sufficient warning" before stopping the tours.

The sales details for the home emphasizes finding a buyer who will conserve the character of the space.

"For collectors of design, advocates of building, or organizations seeking to protect an national treasure, there is simply no equal," the description state. "This is more than a transaction; it is a handover of custody – a quest for the next custodian who will celebrate the house’s past, appreciate its architectural purity, and secure its conservation for generations to come."

The specialist affirmed that the selection of new owner would be a vital one, given the home’s history.

"In my view any time a original family, and a custodianship like this, is transferring hands of a home like this, it always creates 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 specific case the Stahl family has?"