By Grace Roberts

The subject of one of the most iconic photographs ever taken of Los Angeles, Case Study House #22 was constructed by architect Pierre Koenig in the golden age of mid-century modernism. Floor to ceiling glass and open floor plans dominated the popular architectural trends, and nowhere was this clean, outdoorsy style more present than on the West Coast. Also known as the Stahl House, this wonder of architecture and gem atop the Hollywood Hills is an icon due not only to its architectural prowess, but because of the stories that live inside it and the family who calls it home. It defies tradition yet is regarded as a classic, a building that encapsulates modernity but preserves the crux of postwar modernism in 1960’s California.

Nestled in the Hollywood Hills and boasting a view that temporarily stuns, the Stahl House started out as a craggy, jutting piece of land that was affectionately nicknamed “Pecker Point” by locals, who understood its appeal to couples looking for a place to watch the sunset. But it was the vision of Buck Stahl and his wife Carlotta Gates, who spent every day looking at the precipice out of the window in their Hillside Avenue home, that would become a testament to California lifestyle and architecture itself. An afternoon drive, a chance meeting with the owner, and one handshake later, Stahl was the owner of the eighth-acre lot, already dreaming up the construction papers. The Stahl House began as a model of beer cans and clay, slowly transforming into floor-to-ceiling glass paneling and iron beams, sliding doors and a concrete pool.

In 1945, design magazine Arts & Architecture sponsored a project they called the Case Study Houses, in which notable American architects were commissioned to design and construct inexpensive model homes. In the post World War II era, California experienced a residential housing crisis; the crux of this project was to showcase architectural talent while, in theory, combatting the crisis. Thirty-six designs were proposed and twenty-six were built to completion between 1945 and 1966. The six houses built before 1948 were by far the most popular, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. The project ran intermittently, and today, many of the sponsored homes remain in their original condition, preserved as idols of the modernist era. The Stahl House was Case Study House #22, and remains the most popular to this day.

Mid-century modernism was an architectural movement born of an emphasis on lifestyle; in a postwar society, family values and a connection with the outdoors was emphasized. Therefore, mid-century modern homes were constructed with open floor plans and were focused on bringing the outdoors in, subsequently utilizing floor-to-ceiling glass and glass paneling, and often featuring pools and large outdoor decks or patios. Minimalist materials were used in construction, forming clean lines and often taking the shape of low footprints, wide rooms. There was something beautiful in the collaboration of the silvery steel I-Beams and the shock of pool blues. It is fascinating to consider the social and familial influences on architecture, especially in a postwar era, and how changing values, appreciations, and taste reflected nation-wide events. Creating space for families to gather, adults to entertain, and communities to come together was the nucleus of mid-century modern architecture, and it took the nation by storm in the late forties and fifties.

At the same time as mid-century modernism was laying its claim on culture, Peter Koenig was returning home from his four year stint in the army and enrolling in architecture school. Having received his degree from University of Southern California and been in a private practice for several years, Arts & Architecture approached him for the project, and Koenig built two Case Study Houses to completion, #21 and #22. He had an eye for minimalism, with a focus on dramatic and challenging sites that would be otherwise unbuildable. The concept of a house on a rocky outcrop, overlooking the entirety of L.A., therefore, fascinated him. Koenig went on to teach architecture at USC until his death in 2004, receiving numerous accolades for his work both on the Case Study Houses and for his work at USC.

The Stahl House’s initial recognition can be almost entirely attributed to photographer Julius Schulman, the man behind the set of pictures that have come to exemplify mid-century California. Shulman’s black and white photograph of two women, seated in conversation, while the grid of Los Angeles stretches behind them is considered one of the most iconic photographs ever taken of L.A. Employed by Arts & Architecture to photograph the Case Study Houses, Schulman had an eye for angles and a touch of magic. That came with the territory—there was something spellbinding about the architectural prowess of the homes he worked with. Indeed, the Stahl House was not even completed at the time of his session, and was rather a mess of plaster and half-finished cabinetry, yet Schulman manages to capture the inherent playfulness of the home, separate from its parallel lines and symmetry. The resulting photo is futuristic, utopian, like something out of a Jetson’s cartoon or Twilight Zone episode.

A testament to functional beauty, the Stahl House is, at its core, a family affair. Kept in the Stahl family for generations, the family continues to preserve the house’s legacy, but they live there, too. They host pool parties, the glass is smudged and dotted with a child’s chubby fingerprints, and there are frequent dinner parties, guests spilling from that iconic living room that was photographed over six decades ago and onto the pool deck. There is a kind of collision with postwar suburbia and modernist luxury represented by this home. Unlike builds today, the guidelines for the Case Study Houses were designed to keep the house within a reasonable budget, maximizing efficiency. This was a family home and it was treated as such. A rite of passage for Stahl children and their friends was leaping into the pool from the roof—what it must have felt like to stand there, looking out over the twinkle of Los Angeles, before launching into the water amid whoops and wolf whistles from friends and family.

Like any trend, modernism fell out of style, then reentered the cycle several years later, ushering in an entirely new era for the Stahl family: fame. Suddenly, their home was used to shoot Vogue covers, music videos and movies, a replica was featured at an architecture convention, styled to perfection. Today, the family allows hundreds of tours a year to pass through their door, their kitchen, their pool. Wide-eyed architecture students, scholars, mid-century modern aficionados, tourists seeking that California charm that manifests in its neighborhoods. It is enjoyed by the masses, academics and hobbyists alike.

The Stahl House represents a dream—Buck and Carlotta’s dream home, certainly, but a dream for generations to come, a relic by which to build new ideas and pay tribute to the old. That “L” shaped wonder, high atop a hill, a constant sentinel looking out across a city that has come a long way from postwar housing crises and the invention of the microwave. There is something transcendent about the Stahl House, an ability to bridge past and present and skate over space and time, a testament to the artists who created it, the family who lives in it, and those who appreciate it.

ST.ART Magazine does not own the rights to any images used in this article