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

This overhanging home, situated in the Hollywood Hills area, was listed on the listings this past week. The asking price stands at a notable $25 million.

Family Decision to Let Go

The Stahl family, who have owned the residence for its entire 65-year existence, shared a announcement regarding their resolution to sell. They expressed that the dwelling had become too difficult to care for.

"This home has been the center of our lives for many years, but as we’ve grown older, it has become progressively harder to look after it with the care and energy it so richly deserves," stated the descendants of the original owners.

They added that the moment had emerged to find a new "steward" for the house – "someone who not only appreciates its design legacy but also comprehends its position in the cultural fabric of the city and elsewhere."

Modest Beginnings

The origins of the Stahl house date to May 1954, when the first owners acquired a mountainous plot of land in the previously undeveloped Hollywood Hills district for $13,500.

Despite the Stahl house growing into a well-known icon of the city, the owners often stressed that "no celebrities ever lived here," referring to themselves as a "average family living in a white-collar house."

Architectural Challenge

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

In November 1957, the owners met with architect Pierre Koenig, who decided to take on the task. With support from the notable Case Study program, led by a prominent magazine editor, the Stahls received financial aid to hire Koenig.

The progressive program "focused on experimentation" and "using new building materials and building in sites that maybe previously the technology didn’t really permit," remarked an specialist from a city conservancy. "All these elements are combined into a property like the Stahl house, which was innovative, progressive and unimaginable in terms of how it was built on that location that everyone else believed, at the time, was unbuildable."

Realization and Cultural Impact

The Stahl house was assigned Case Study house No. 22, and work commenced in May 1959. According to the residents, construction cost "only $37,500" and the home was completed by May 1960. The final product was "an idealized version of what everyone envisions LA is and should be," the authority added.

Soon after completion, a celebrated architectural photographer took what is arguably the most well-known photograph of the home. Captured through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the photo features two women seated in the home’s living room but appearing to hover over the LA skyline.

"In my opinion the lasting effect of that photograph is due to the way it communicates an idea about dwelling in Los Angeles, an duality about being both in the city and removed from it," commented a principal of an architectural practice and educator at a leading university.

Cultural Recognition

The home has enjoyed memorable features in film, TV and music videos, including several famous titles from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1999, the city recognized the Stahl house a protected monument, and in 2013, the house was added as a conserved building on the National Register of Historic Places.

Future Custodianship

The home is still open for tours, as it has been for the last 17 years, although all tours are currently sold out through February. In their statement concerning the sale, the family said they would give "plenty of advance notice" before ending the tours.

The listing for the home stresses finding a buyer who will maintain the essence of the space.

"For connoisseurs of style, advocates of architecture, or entities seeking to safeguard an American masterpiece, there is simply no parallel," the listing state. "This is more than a purchase; it is a passing of responsibility – a hunt for the next custodian who will respect the house’s past, respect its original vision, and secure its protection for posterity."

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

"In my view any time a original family, and a custodianship like this, is being sold of a home like this, it always gives us a little bit of a hesitation – because you cannot predict what the next owner, what their intentions will be. And can they grasp and cherish the house, as in this unique case the Stahl family has?"