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The Stahl House: Case Study House ú22: The Making of a Modernist Icon
The official biography of a midcentury modern architectural gem and the family that made it their home.
The Stahl House—envisioned by owners Buck and Carlotta Stahl and designed by architect Pierre Koenig—has been an icon of midcentury modern architecture since its construction in the 1960s. The glass and iron structure perched in the Hollywood Hills broke architectural rules and conventions, blurred the boundaries between indoors and outdoors, and has come to embody the idealism of a generation. The groundbreaking yet modest two-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot house with glass walls that disappear into a 270-degree panorama of Los Angeles has appeared in countless high-end ad campaigns, in film, and on television, cementing its lasting prominence in contemporary culture.
Bringing together extensive research and interviews, never-before-seen sketches, blueprints, and plans, as well as photos from the Stahl family’s personal collection, The Stahl Case Study House #22 provides the ultimate insider’s view into a pioneering feat of architecture. Discover the Stahl House in a new light with this compelling book that Vanity Fair calls "a love song to a global icon."
A NEW LOOK AT A The story of the Stahl family, who for years have generously opened their home to architecture and design lovers from all over the world, provides a new perspective on this iconic building.
STUNNING Photographer Julius Shulman’s iconic shots immortalized the Stahl house; these are featured along with new photography and spreads from advertisements, film, and television, making this book a true visual treat.
DELUXE COFFEE TABLE This hardcover volume includes full-color and black-and-white photography, and captivating spreads on nearly every page. It belongs on every architecture and design lover’s bookshelf or display table.
Perfect
The Stahl House—envisioned by owners Buck and Carlotta Stahl and designed by architect Pierre Koenig—has been an icon of midcentury modern architecture since its construction in the 1960s. The glass and iron structure perched in the Hollywood Hills broke architectural rules and conventions, blurred the boundaries between indoors and outdoors, and has come to embody the idealism of a generation. The groundbreaking yet modest two-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot house with glass walls that disappear into a 270-degree panorama of Los Angeles has appeared in countless high-end ad campaigns, in film, and on television, cementing its lasting prominence in contemporary culture.
Bringing together extensive research and interviews, never-before-seen sketches, blueprints, and plans, as well as photos from the Stahl family’s personal collection, The Stahl Case Study House #22 provides the ultimate insider’s view into a pioneering feat of architecture. Discover the Stahl House in a new light with this compelling book that Vanity Fair calls "a love song to a global icon."
A NEW LOOK AT A The story of the Stahl family, who for years have generously opened their home to architecture and design lovers from all over the world, provides a new perspective on this iconic building.
STUNNING Photographer Julius Shulman’s iconic shots immortalized the Stahl house; these are featured along with new photography and spreads from advertisements, film, and television, making this book a true visual treat.
DELUXE COFFEE TABLE This hardcover volume includes full-color and black-and-white photography, and captivating spreads on nearly every page. It belongs on every architecture and design lover’s bookshelf or display table.
Perfect
208 pages, Hardcover
Published November 2, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 30, 2022
Remarkably, equally entertaining and educational. Love the amount of history and visual media packed into such a concise and well designed book. And they didn’t shy away from any controversy either which is refreshing. Also loved the narrative end notes! Makes me appreciate those tours even more.
November 10, 2021
the first half of this was pretty great--unique, as far as my readings go, in that it presents both the owner and the architect perspectives on this amazing house. I also really enjoyed reading the details concerning how Shulman, the photographer set the shots. The second half of the book is more about the Stahl's and living in the house and their subsequent history with it which, honestly, I just skimmed.
overall an interesting book, i learned some stuff and the photos are fantastic. Much more enjoyable than the recent pubs on the ins and out of Mies Van der Rohe's glass house. i would *really* like to live in a house like this!
overall an interesting book, i learned some stuff and the photos are fantastic. Much more enjoyable than the recent pubs on the ins and out of Mies Van der Rohe's glass house. i would *really* like to live in a house like this!
August 27, 2022
This is a fabulous book, all about the history of the iconic Stahl house in the Hollywood Hills. So much time and effort were put into telling the history, and the photos, of which there are many, are outstanding. I feel privileged that I got to visit the house several years ago.
February 18, 2022
“This is the challenge- to take these common, everyday parts and work them into an esthetically pleasing concept”
Nothing about this house seems like an everyday part. This book and this house are so much more than esthetically pleasing.
If you are into the romance of LA and Hollywood this is your book. If you love architecture and art 🖼 this is also the perfect book. The writing ✍🏼 is spectacular. You have likely seen the Stahl House in a movie or perhaps a Valentino ad, this book walks you through the history and the romance of the home. Beautifully done! ❤️
Hollywood 🎬 glam , the history, the family fun and so much more!!
Nothing about this house seems like an everyday part. This book and this house are so much more than esthetically pleasing.
If you are into the romance of LA and Hollywood this is your book. If you love architecture and art 🖼 this is also the perfect book. The writing ✍🏼 is spectacular. You have likely seen the Stahl House in a movie or perhaps a Valentino ad, this book walks you through the history and the romance of the home. Beautifully done! ❤️
Hollywood 🎬 glam , the history, the family fun and so much more!!
May 15, 2026
A year ago we had the privilege of visiting this totally iconic home high up in the Hollywood hills, the site of movie shoots, fashion shoots and really the creation of the myth of late 20th century Los Angeles and Hollywood. And yet the story has pretty humble roots and the confluence of a great many coincidences. A couple (the Stahls) spy a building plot, mortgage themselves to the hilt to buy it, gradually over months scavenge waste concrete to prepare a foundation, and stumble upon an architect (Pierre Koenig) with a similar vision of a new way of living and a magazine editor (Arts & Architecture) embarking on a post war programme (the Case Study House Programme) to discover new ways of mass producing housing, and a photographer (Julius Schulman) with the technique to pull off one of the most famous All-American images. Sure, the Modernist ideal of mass production using industrial techniques never really took off, and the houses associated with it are now massively influential and highly desirable, extremely expensive artefacts. But, the youthful, optimistic and visionary outlook of the postwar generation was infectious and bold. The beautiful thing about this particular house is that, in spite of its being the subject of stupendously famous photo and legend, it was a family home with all its quirks and struggles. And it's true - you can feel it when you visit the house itself - it really does feel like a home. You're in someone's neighbourhood and the guide is someone who knows the Stahls personally. And then there's that view out over the entire city. We bought our copy of the book directly in the house itself. It's a fantastic read - and it's packed full of photos you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else. At the time of writing (Trump II and the disintegration of the international order so hard won at the end of WW2), it was hard to read this without shedding a tear for a lost America, so encapsulated in the story of this house.
March 11, 2025
Architect Pierre Koenig said “with architecture if you can get intellectual stimulation and the emotional stimulation at the same time then I think it’s a work of art“. The Stahl House meets his simple, perfect definition. More poetically, a Stahl House tour guide is quoted in the book “architecture is a transformative experience, and I believe buildings and places can be portals to parts of our soul…the Stahl house is a portal.“
Both thoughts on architecture were unarticulated emotions I experienced when touring Robie House in Chicago decades ago, and especially when I toured Fallingwater more recently. I left the latter “work of art” inarticulately saying it changed my life. This book’s words, people, and pictures accelerated my Robie>>>Fallingwater architecture understand and appreciation.
The book described how an unlikely team of dreamers (Buck & Carlotta Stahl) and technical experts (John Entenza, Koenig, Julius Shulman, bean-counting bankers!) created a home for a family for 47 years and then, a timeless, breathtaking work of art for the ages.
The absolute key to this book’s success and what sets it apart from the other two homes mentioned above is the imprint of Stahl family’s history on the history and mechanics behind the structure. When I finally walk through that doorway portal and see the pool, the house, the sky and the city, the emotional impact of the home will be 100-fold because of the generous sharing of that family’s story in this wonderful book.
Both thoughts on architecture were unarticulated emotions I experienced when touring Robie House in Chicago decades ago, and especially when I toured Fallingwater more recently. I left the latter “work of art” inarticulately saying it changed my life. This book’s words, people, and pictures accelerated my Robie>>>Fallingwater architecture understand and appreciation.
The book described how an unlikely team of dreamers (Buck & Carlotta Stahl) and technical experts (John Entenza, Koenig, Julius Shulman, bean-counting bankers!) created a home for a family for 47 years and then, a timeless, breathtaking work of art for the ages.
The absolute key to this book’s success and what sets it apart from the other two homes mentioned above is the imprint of Stahl family’s history on the history and mechanics behind the structure. When I finally walk through that doorway portal and see the pool, the house, the sky and the city, the emotional impact of the home will be 100-fold because of the generous sharing of that family’s story in this wonderful book.
February 10, 2022
Can a house become a celebrity? This is the story of an internationally known Mid-Century architectural icon and how, thanks to Pierre Konig's design and Julius Shulman's famous photograph of it, the house would go on to become a symbol for an entire city and epitomize the American Dream.
It's also the story of how, at its heart, the house was a living, breathing, family home, and what it was like to live in and eventually become stewards of an architectural legend. Built for a very average couple, the convergence of creative forces of several individuals helped turn their dream house into reality and eventually turned it into an icon.
Written by members of the Stahl family with journalist Kim Cross, stylistically the book is written in a way to please both the average reader and the architecture geek. The story is told via a combination of family photos, architectural photographs and renderings, interview snippets, and the Stahl family’s reminiscences. I appreciated that the writers seemed to understand that letting their subject take the lead, rather than the writing itself, was the most effective way to tell the story of the house.
The story behind the Julius Shulman photograph that made the house famous is highlighted in the book as well, being an important part of the narrative.
It’s an interesting read, with enough sources and resources cited to encourage further exploration for those who wish them, without footnotes getting in the way of the reading itself.
It's also the story of how, at its heart, the house was a living, breathing, family home, and what it was like to live in and eventually become stewards of an architectural legend. Built for a very average couple, the convergence of creative forces of several individuals helped turn their dream house into reality and eventually turned it into an icon.
Written by members of the Stahl family with journalist Kim Cross, stylistically the book is written in a way to please both the average reader and the architecture geek. The story is told via a combination of family photos, architectural photographs and renderings, interview snippets, and the Stahl family’s reminiscences. I appreciated that the writers seemed to understand that letting their subject take the lead, rather than the writing itself, was the most effective way to tell the story of the house.
The story behind the Julius Shulman photograph that made the house famous is highlighted in the book as well, being an important part of the narrative.
It’s an interesting read, with enough sources and resources cited to encourage further exploration for those who wish them, without footnotes getting in the way of the reading itself.
April 12, 2022
Really interesting read!! Amazing pictures of this beautiful house. The book was a personal story and is well written and keeps your interest. The Stahl’s were a great couple and what a vision! So glad the kids never sold it. Also great stories of the great architect and photographer!!! Just a great book! I can’t wait to tour this house when in L.A.!!!
Want to Read
July 25, 2021Fantastic L A
March 19, 2022
A fascinating story of a famous house and the family that built and lived there. This house is gorgeous - i would have liked even more pictures!
March 22, 2024
Tells the story of this famous house but from the perspective of the family that built it and lived there.
February 16, 2026
Great look into the construction of the Stahl house, accompanied by gorgeous photographs. Why did I cry
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews