case study number 22

Stahl House (Case Study House #22)

Pierre Koenig | Website | 1960 | Visitor Information

1635 Woods Drive , West Hollywood 90069, United States of America

The Stahl House by Pierre Koenig (also known as Case Study House #22) was part of the Case Study House Program, which produced some of the most iconic architectural projects of the 20th Century. The modern residence overlooks Los Angeles from the Hollywood Hills. It was completed in 1959 for Buck Stahl and his family. Stahl envisioned a modernist glass and steel constructed house that offered panoramic views of Los Angeles when he originally purchased the land for the house in 1954 for $13,500. When excavation began, he originally took on the duties of both architect and contractor. It was not until 1957 that Stahl hired Pierre Koenig to take over the design of the family’s residence. The two-bedroom, 2,200 square foot residence is a true testament to modernist architecture and the Case Study House Program. The program was set in place by John Entenza and sponsored by the Arts & Architecture magazine. The aim of the program was to introduce modernist principles into residential architecture, not only to advance the aesthetic but to introduce new ways of life, both stylistically and as a representation of modern lifestyle. Koenig was able to hone in on the vision of Buck Stahl and transform that vision into a modernist icon. The glass and steel construction is the most identifiable trait of the house’s architectural modernism, however, way in which Koenig organized the spatial layout of the house, taking both public and private aspects into great consideration, is also notable. As much as architectural modernism is associated with the materials and methods of construction, the juxtaposition of program and organization are important design principles that evoke utilitarian characteristics. The house is “L”-shaped, completely separating the public and private sections except for a single hallway connecting them. The adjacent swimming pool, which must be crossed to enter the house, is not only a spatial division of public and private but it serves as the interstitial space in which visitors can best experience the panoramic views. The living space of the house is behind the pool and is the only part of the house that has a solid wall, which backs up to the carport and the street. The entire house is one large viewing box, capturing amazing perspectives of the house, the landscape, and Los Angeles. Oddly enough, the Stahl house was fairly unknown and unrecognized for its advancement of modern American residential architecture until 1960 when photographer Julius Shulman captured the pure architectural essence of the house in a shot of two women sitting in the living room overlooking the bright lights of the city of Los Angeles. That photo put the Stahl House on the architectural radar as an architectural gem hidden in the Hollywood Hills. The Stahl House is still one of the most visited and admired buildings today. It has undergone many interior transformations. Today, you will not find the same iconic 1960s furniture inside, but the architecture, the view, and the experience still remain.

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Stahl House (Case Study House #22)

Immortalized by photographer Julius Shulman, the Stahl House epitomized the ideal of modern living in postwar Los Angeles.

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• Pierre Koenig

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• Los Angeles

Based on a recent approval by the City of Los Angeles for a new residence at the base of the hillside and below the historic Stahl House, this action now places this Modernist icon at risk. The hillside is especially fragile as it is prone to slides and susceptible to destabilization. This condition will be exacerbated as this proposed new residence is planned to cut into the hillside and erect large retaining walls.

The proposed project received approval despite opposition and documentation submitted that substantiates the problem and potential harm to the Stahl House. An appeal has been filed and the City is reviewing this now. No date has been set yet for when this might come back to the City Planning Commission.

To demonstrate your support for the Stahl House and to ensure the appeal is granted (sending the proposed project back for review), please sign on to the  Save the Stahl House campaign .

Who hasn’t seen the iconic image of architect Pierre Koenig’s Stahl House (Case Study House #22), dramatically soaring over the Los Angeles basin? Built in 1960 as part of the Case Study House program, it is one of the best-known houses of mid-century Los Angeles.

The program was created in 1945 by John Entenza, editor of the groundbreaking magazine  Arts & Architecture . Its mission was to shape and form postwar living through replicable building techniques that used modern industrial materials. With its glass-and-steel construction, the Stahl House remains one of the most famous examples of the program’s principles and aesthetics.

Original owners Buck and Carlotta Stahl found a perfect partner in Koenig, who was the only architect to see the precarious site as an advantage rather than an impediment. The soaring effect was achieved using dramatic roof overhangs and the largest pieces of commercially available glass at the time.

The enduring fame of the Stahl House can be partly attributed to renowned architectural photographer Julius Shulman, who captured nearly a century of growth and development in Southern California but was best-known for conveying the Modern architecture and optimistic lifestyle of postwar Los Angeles. Shulman’s most iconic photo perfectly conveys the drama of the Stahl House at twilight: two women casually recline in the glowing living room as it hovers over the sparkling metropolis below.

View the National Register of Historic Places Nomination

The Conservancy does not own or operate the Stahl House. For any requests, please contact the Stahl House directly at (208) 429-1058.

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Case Study House No. 22, 1960

Between 1945 and 1966, Californian magazine Arts & Architecture asked major architects of the day to design model homes. The magazine was responding to the postwar building boom with prototype modern homes that could be both easily replicated and readily affordable to the average American. Among many criteria given to the architects was to use “as far as is practicable, many war-born techniques and materials best suited to the expression of man’s life in the modern world.”

Thirty-six model homes were commissioned from major architects of the day, including Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig, Eero Saarinen, A. Quincy Jones, and Ralph Rapson. Not all of them were built but some thirty of them were, mostly around the Greater Los Angeles area.

The magazine also engaged an architectural photographer named Julius Shulman to dutifully record this experiment in residential architecture. Fittingly for Shulman, one of the first architectural photographers to include the inhabitants of homes in the pictures, his most famous image was the 1960 view of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House No. 22 (also the Stahl House), which showed two well-dressed women conversing casually inside.

In the photo, the cantilevered living room appears to float diaphanously above Los Angeles. “The vertiginous point of view contrasts sharply with the relaxed atmosphere of the house’s interior, testifying to the ability of the Modernist architect to transcend the limits of the natural world,” praised the New York Times . Yet this view was created as meticulously as the house itself. Wide-angle photography belied the actual smallness of the house; furniture and furnishings were staged, and as were the women. Although they were not models (but rather girlfriends of architectural students), they were asked to sit still in the dark as Shulman exposed the film seven minutes to capture lights from LA streets. Then, lights inside were quickly switched on to capture two posing women.

Case Study House No.22 as it appeared in Arts and Architecture . Shulman’s photo with inhabitants did not appear here.

See other Case Study Houses here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Study_Houses

Result was the photo Sir Norman Foster termed his favorite “architectural moment”. Indeed, the photo captured excitement and promises the house held, and propelled Case Study No. 22 into the forefront of national consciousness. Some called it the most iconic building in LA. It appeared as backdrop in many movies, TV series and advertisements. Tim Allen was abducted by aliens here in Galaxy Quest ; Greg Kinnear would make it his bachelor pad in Nurse Betty , and Columbo opened its pilot episode here. Italian models in slicked-back hair would frolic poolside in Valentino ads. It was even replicated in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. According to Koenig, Case Study No. 22. was featured in more than 1,200 books — more often than Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.

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Case Study House No. 22, by the numbers

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$15,000,000

The most offered to the Stahl family to sell their iconic Case Study House No. 22. (The family declined.)

Cost of a vintage photograph of Julius Shulman’s “Case Study House #22” (1960) at Craig Krull Gallery. (Prints made in the 1990s under Shulman’s instructions: $17,000 to $20,000.)

Price to build the Hollywood Hills home in 1959, excluding pool ($3,651).

Cost of the narrow lot in 1954.

Day rate for a film company to rent Stahl house for a day in 2009. (Lower rates for parties.)

Number of square feet in the two-bedroom, three-bathroom house.

Degrees of unobstructed mountain-to-ocean view one sees from the living room.

Number of times Case Study House No. 22 has been built: first by architect Pierre Koenig, then again in 1989 when Craig Hodgetts and Ming Fung designed a full-scale model for the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition “Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses.”

Number of days it took for the glass house’s steel frame to be erected.

-- Barbara Thornburg Sources: Stahl Trust; “Iconic: Stories of L.A.’s Most Memorable Buildings” by Gloria Koenig; “Koenig” by Neil Jackson; “Pierre Koenig” by David Jenkins and James Steele; “Case Study Houses” by Elizabeth A.T. Smith; and Craig Krull Gallery

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AD Classics: Stahl House / Pierre Koenig

• Written by Andrew Kroll

• Architects: Pierre Koenig
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  1959
• Photographs Photographs: Flickr User: dalylab

Text description provided by the architects. The Case Study House Program produced some of the most iconic architectural projects of the 20th Century, but none more iconic than or as famous as the Stahl House, also known as Case Study House #22 by Pierre Koenig. The modern residence overlooks Los Angeles from the Hollywood Hills. It was completed in 1959 for Buck Stahl and his family.

Buck Stahl had envisioned a modernist glass and steel constructed house that offered panoramic views of Los Angeles when he originally purchased the land for the house in 1954 for $13,500. Stahl had originally begun to excavate and take on the duties of architect and contractor; it was not until 1957 when Stahl hired Pierre Koenig to take over the design of the family’s residence.

The two-bedroom, 2,200 square foot residence is a true testament to modernist architecture and the Case Study House Program.  The program was set in place by John Entenza and sponsored by the Arts & Architecture magazine.  The aim of the program was to introduce modernist principles into residential architecture, not only to advance the aesthetic, but to introduce new ways of life both in a stylistic sense and one that represented the lifestyles of the modern age.

Pierre Koenig was able to hone in on the vision of Buck Stahl and transform that vision into a modernist icon.  The glass and steel construction is understandably the most identifiable trait of architectural modernism, but it is the way in which Koenig organized the spatial layout of the house taking the public and private aspects of the house into great consideration.  As much as architectural modernism is associated with the materials and methods of construction, the juxtaposition of program and organization are important design principles that evoke utilitarian characteristics.

The house is “L” shaped in that the private and public sectors are completely separated save for a single hallway that connects the two wings.  Compositionally adjacent is the swimming pool that one must cross in order to get into the house; it is not only a spatial division of public and private but its serves as the interstitial space that one must pass through in order to experience the panoramic views. 

The living space of the house is set back behind the pool and is the only part of the house that has a solid wall, which backs up to the carport and the street. The entire house is understood to be one large viewing box that captures amazing perspectives of the house, the landscape, and Los Angeles.

Oddly enough, the Stahl house was fairly unknown and unrecognized for its advancement of modern American residential architecture, until 1960 when Julius Shulman captured the pure architectural essence of the house.  It was the night shot of two women sitting in the living room overlooking the bright lights of the city of Los Angeles.

That photo put the Stahl House on the architectural radar as being an architectural gem hidden up in the Hollywood Hills.

The Stahl House is still one of the most visited and admired buildings today.  It has undergone many interior transformations, so you will not find the same iconic 1960s furniture, but the architecture, the view, and the experience still remain.  You can make reservations and a small fee with the Stahl family, and even get a tour with Buck Stahl’s wife, Carlotta, or better recognized as Mrs. Stahl.

This building is part of our Architecture City Guide: Los Angeles . Check all the other buildings on this guide right here.

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PODCAST: Inside LA’s Most Iconic Modernist Home, Case Study House #22

The story of an awe-inspiring building and the family that grew up there.

November 24, 2021 | 39:00

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“Buck wanted to stand in every room from his house, turn his head, and see every view. Even the bathroom. And so that was kind of what inspired the design of the house.”

Among the most famous photographs of modern architecture is Julius Shulman’s picture of Case Study House #22, also known as the Stahl House after the family that commissioned it. Two girls in white dresses sit inside a glass cube that seems to float atop a cliff over the illuminated grid of Los Angeles at night. Built by a family with a “beer budget and champagne tastes,” the two-bedroom home designed by architect Pierre Koenig changed residential design in LA. While Shulman’s image and others of the building have appeared in countless publications, advertisements, films, and TV shows, the story of how the house came to be and what it was like to live there is less well known.

More to explore:

The Stahl House: Case Study House #22; The Making of a Modernist Icon buy the book

JAMES CUNO: Hello, I’m Jim Cuno, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Welcome to Art and Ideas, a podcast in which I speak to artists, conservators, authors, and scholars about their work. KIM CROSS: Buck wanted to stand in every room from his house, turn his head, and see every view. Even the bathroom. And so that was kind of what inspired the design of the house. CUNO: In this episode, I speak with Kim Cross, Bruce Stahl, and Shari Stahl Gronwald about Case Study House 22, the Stahl House. The Stahl House, or Case Study House #22, is a modernist-styled house designed by the architect Pierre Koenig in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. Built in 1959 as part of the Case Study Houses program, the house is considered an icon of modern architecture in Los Angeles, immortalized by the photographer Julius Shulman. It has since become one of the most frequently reproduced modernist homes, appearing in fashion shoots, films, and advertising campaigns. I recently spoke with Bruce and Shari Stahl, two of the three Stahl children who grew up in the house, and award-winning journalist Kim Cross, who together authored the new book The Stahl House: Case Study House #22, the Making of a Modernist Icon. Shari, Bruce, and Kim, thank you for speaking with me this morning. Shari and Bruce, we’re here to talk about your house, the house you grew up in, the Stahl House, Case Study House number 22. Tell us about your parents and what prompted them to commission this High Modernist house. BRUCE STAHL: Our father, Clarence Henry Stahl—everybody knew him as Buck Stahl—was born in St. Louis, 1912, the son of a milkman and a homemaker. In his teens, he lived through the Great Depression. He attended Cleveland High School, where his talents in drawing and printing started to come out. After high school, he attended a mechanical trade school and studied printing. CUNO: Shari? SHARI STAHL GRONWALD: Once our father, Buck, came over from St. Louis, he worked in the aerospace industry. Carlotta, my mother, was a native Southern Californian. She was born and raised down in Santa Monica, and she ended up growing up in Culver City. And she worked at North American Aviation. And they ended up meeting by a sales call that Buck ended up going on. And Carlotta was a receptionist when he came in, and he was taken by this, you know, blonde beauty. They ended up falling in love and they wanted to get married. And they drove out to Las Vegas and they got married March 20th, 1954. My parents actually eyed this lot that the Stahl House is on today from a apartment that they rented shortly after they got married, across the canyon. So this lot, or these lots that were for sale across the canyon, were in plain view every day. So I think what happened is that they ended up falling in love with this particular lot that was the one closest to the edge, with the view that just went forever. CUNO: Kim? CROSS: So in 1954, Buck and Carlotta were newlyweds, and they were renting an apartment in the Hollywood Hills. And out their window, they could see this beautiful promontory, this ridgeline. And on its tip was a lot that just looked like an island in the sky, and they started fantasizing about this lot. They started calling it “our lot.” And one day they decided to drive up there and see “our lot.” And just by coincidence, the owner of the lot, who lived in La Jolla, just happened to be driving there. After about an hour of conversation, Buck and Carlotta bought the lot for $100 of earnest money and $13,500, and the owner of the lot carried the mortgage. You know, back in those days, you didn’t get a mortgage and start building immediately; you had to pay off the lot. And they paid it off fifty dollars at a time over four years. And during those four years, Buck spent four years of weekends basically driving around Los Angeles in his Cadillac and going to building sites where they had heaps of discarded concrete. And he would load the concrete in the trunk of his Cadillac, and then drive it, riding low, up to the lot, unload the concrete, and then he used those chunks to basically build these terraces and a perimeter around the lot that prevented erosion and made the buildable surface six feet bigger. And that area was the place where the house is cantilevered over the cliff. CUNO: Shari? GRONWALD: During this time, Buck was able to build a model that specifically showed exactly how the house was supposed to be laid out, exactly what he wanted for their dream home. I don’t think it was ever considered to be anything famous. It was just the style of the time. He wanted a butterfly roof; he wanted a waterfall; he wanted walls that curved along the street. He didn’t know how it was gonna be done, but this is what he wanted. CROSS: And when he built his model, so many architects turned him down because they said either the lot’s unbuildable or the structure’s unbuildable, or for whatever reason, they didn’t want any part of it. So something like five architects, including Craig Elwood, turned ’em down and said nope. And then they found Pierre Koenig, sort of by flipping through Pictorial Living, they saw his work, called him. And he was the one who said, “Yes, we can do this.” CUNO: So Pierre Koenig designed the house, but there was a great deal of collaboration between the owners of the house and the architect of the house. Tell us about that. CROSS: So Buck Stahl really had a vision of what he wanted, and it all started with the lot. And he wanted a house that wouldn’t obstruct any of the 270-degree view of Los Angeles. He started with sculpting a replica of the lot out of crushed beer cans and soda cans and clay, and then he fashioned something that he thought would fit on it. It was an L-shaped plan, except it had a butterfly roof that swept up and out like wings, and then it also had a curved wall that followed the curve in the road. And these would’ve been very expensive to build. And so Pierre took Buck’s ideas and made them not only buildable, but affordable. They had a very tight budget to work with, and it would’ve been very expensive to build steel or to build that butterfly roof or to construct— Buck wanted a water feature. And so Pierre changed Buck’s ideas and made them affordable, and also elevated the design into a masterpiece. GRONWALD: As Pierre used to say, they had champagne taste on a beer budget. CROSS: And one of the exceptional things, I think, that’s so stunning about what Pierre did was he only had something like sixty different components, stock parts, to design this house with. And that’s part of what made it affordable. Imagine being given sixty, you know, types of Legos and that’s all you have. You can’t cut them, you can’t bend them, you can’t do anything with them. And he used those pieces to create something really beautiful, but also affordable. And that’s part of the magic of this house. The other thing that Buck wanted was he wanted stone somewhere. And Pierre designed it into the fireplace. But when it came down to building the house, the Stahls ran out of money. And so there was no stone on the original fireplace. GRONWALD: They also couldn’t afford the original terrazzo floor that was supposed to be throughout the house, so they ended up having to settle for concrete. They couldn’t afford carpeting. Carpeting came later. But until the carpeting ended up getting put in, Bruce and I used to roller skate through the house. A lotta people kinda were in shock when we told ’em because it’s a all-glass house. But Mom and Dad used to let us roller skate up and down through the hallways. Well, not so much hallways, but the openness of the living room, and then we were able to skate right into our bedroom. So it was kind of fun. I’m kinda glad the terrazzo didn’t get in. CUNO: Were they architects monque in any kind of way. Did they see themselves as architects? GRONWALD: My parents, Buck and Carlotta, were not architects at all. Buck had training in art and drafting and printing. And he had a talent for being very creative. He was very good at what he did, as far as drawing. So he was able to see the house and exactly what he wanted to be able to put it in model form. CUNO: How did he become aware of the Case Study House program? And Kim, tell us what the Case Study House program was. CROSS: So the Case Study House program is one of the greatest experiments in American architecture. As World War II was drawing to a close, there was a magazine editor named John Entenza. He was the editor of Arts & Architecture magazine. And he realized that we were sending home 6.7 million Americans from living abroad, and they were not gonna have anyplace to live. Because during the war, virtually all of the resources were diverted to the war effort, and almost no residential construction had taken place during the war. And so he didn’t wanna see a glut of really bad design happen to solve this housing crisis. So he had a great idea. He said, “Why don’t we commission the nation’s best young Modernist architects to reimagine the American lifestyle and redesign the middleclass American home. And so he started the Modernist architects in America, and he would pair them up with a client and they would design a house for the client. But the objective was to design prototypes that could be mass produced nationwide, regardless of the site, bringing good design to the masses. And so this was the program that the Stahl family just happened to plug into, with good fortune. CUNO: Was it also more affordable? CROSS: Yes. The goal was affordable, well-designed prototypes that could be mass produced nationwide. CUNO: So this is Case Study House number 22. How many Case Study Houses were there? CROSS: Well, there are thirty-six. Ten of them were never built, and about twenty remain today. And I think the Stahl House, if I’m correct, is the only one that’s still in the hands of the original owners. CUNO: How different was the Stahl House from the other Case Study Houses? CROSS: Case Study House 21, also designed by Pierre Koenig, really embodied all of the ideals of the Case Study House program. It had a small footprint; it was modest, it was affordable, and it was the design that could really be built on any site, so it wasn’t site-specific. Tenty-two was very site-specific. It was, in fact, designed to maximize the beautiful views from this lot that Buck and Carlotta had bought, which had 270-degree views of Los Angeles rolling out like a carpet beneath the house, and then the ocean in the background. And you know, Buck and Carlotta, they really didn’t wanna waste any bit of this view. I know Buck wanted to stand in every room from his house, turn his head, and see every view. Even the bathroom. And so that was kind of what inspired the design of the house. And Pierre Koenig saw the potential for that and really maximized it. So in that way, it was very different. CUNO: What about the neighboring houses? What were they like? STAHL: The neighboring houses were traditional-style houses. Two and three bedrooms. Most of ’em up there on the street were three bedrooms, probably two baths. They all had a bit of a view at certain angles. But there was nothing like our house up in that area. There was one at the very end of the cul-de-sac that had some kinda midcentury lines to it. Flat roof, carport, no garage, pool, high ceilings in a certain part of the house. But that was the only one that I would consider midcentury, and it came after ours. CUNO: Kim, how did the Case Study program get administered? Did one have to register the house with a central authority of some kind to get a special number? CROSS: So the Case Study House program was administered by Arts & Architecture magazine and John Entenza. And he would reach out to these architects and have them work on a design. When possible, he would match them with a client who needed a house, and he would design a house for that client. But again, the idea was that they would design prototypes that could be mass produced, using the technologies developed for the war, and the materials. The brilliant part about this program was, he made partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers of those materials. And those suppliers made those materials affordable, or they sold them either at cost or donated them to these Case Study House projects. And in exchange, they got coverage in the magazine. So in the magazine, he would publish the designs, and then he would publish pictures of construction, so you could see these houses unfolding in the magazine. And in exchange for donating or selling at cost these materials, the suppliers would get free advertising. And then he would open the houses to the public for tours for a certain amount of time before the families were allowed to move in. So it was kind of this win-win-win. The families who participated got cheaper materials for their house, making it more affordable, which was really key for the Stahl House, because they were on a pretty tight budget, and this program really made it affordable for them to build their house. CUNO: What role did Paul Williams, the African American architect in Los Angeles, play in the process of building and registering the Stahl House? He features prominently in one photograph in the book. GRONWALD: Paul Williams was one of the founders of a Black-owned bank called Broadway Federal Savings and Loan. And I believe it was founded in 1946. He was one of the founders, and he also was on the board. And I believe when Buck and Carlotta couldn’t find a loan—they tried. With Pierre, they searched all over to find someone that would loan them the money to build their dream home. The only one that came forward was Broadway Federal Savings and Loan. It was a bank that was created for the need for conventional loans to minority consumers, which many of ’em were returning veterans. They noticed that the minority consumers were being ignored by the existing banks, so they kinda filled that gap. And it became very successful. We would like to think Paul Williams, being a noted architect himself, that that had something to do with the approval of my parents’ loans. We are forever grateful to this bank for allowing my parents to build their dream home. A Black-owned bank that made a white couple’s dream come true, even when discrimination was still happening in the area. It’s amazing to me. STAHL: Back then, banks were very leery about investing in what they called back then is hill dwellers. Construction of homes in the hills. The engineering back then wasn’t as good as today’s engineering, and there was a lot of catastrophes where pools would slide down the hill or portions of the house would fail. This is why the banks weren’t coming forward to lend my parents money, because they thought it was a risk. CROSS: Can I jump in and add that, I mean, this really is exceptional, that a Black-owned bank underwrote the dream house of a white family. And it did this in a neighborhood where the covenants, conditions, and restrictions actually discriminated against non-whites. There were things written into the code that said that non-white people could not live on the property of any of these houses. And the other thing was they had a requirement, as part of the mortgage, that I think changed the Stahl House and made it, was part— one of the things that made it what it is today. They required a pool. That was not part of the original design. CROSS: And I think that the pool, in particular, the addition of the pool is so important for the house. Not only for the way it reflects the environment and the house itself—the house is constantly transforming because the glass of the walls reflects the sunset; the light from the pool bounces off onto the walls in those little shadows of light. I mean, the house wouldn’t be the house without the pool. And it also really changed your lives, Bruce and Shari. And can you talk about how, like, the tradition that you had when you were tiny and you didn’t know how to swim yet? You had a pool right outside your door. Can you talk about what you had to do when you were little? STAHL: Yeah. As children growing up, and once we learned how to walk, the first thing that we put on in the morning—and a lotta times, it was put on right over the jammies—was a life vest. And that was before we even left the room, we had to put our life vest on, because around our pool, there was no fences. The windows opened right into the pool, just about. So until we could learn to master swimming, that was our morning regimen, before we even got out of our room. GRONWALD: And needless to say, we ended up learning how to swim pretty quickly, ’cause we got tired of the life vests. CROSS: And then one day your dad propped a ladder against the roof, and what happened? STAHL: Well, he launched himself off the roof into the deep end, which started a tradition that is still going today. We’re probably on our fourth generation of roof jumpers now. My father was the first generation. Shari and I and Mark were the second generation. My three kids are the third-generation roof jumpers. They’ve all jumped. And on my uncle’s side of the family, the grandkids, which is the fourth-generation roof jumpers, have gone off that roof. CROSS: I should add that Shari and Bruce had a— had a requirement for me to write their book. They said, “If you really wanna understand what it was like for us to grow up in this house, you have to jump off the roof.” So they made me jump off the roof, into the pool. GRONWALD: She loved every minute of it. CUNO: How much did it cost to build Case Study House 22? GRONWALD: Well, the lot was $13,500. And they couldn’t build until that loan was paid off. And soon as the loan was paid off, that’s when they took their model and they started contacting architects. And then they ended up getting the loan for $34,000. So $34,000 was the house cost. But because Broadway Federal Savings and Loan wouldn’t finance the pool, that tacked on another $3,455. So I guess the overall cost of the house being built was $37,455, and then plus the 13,5 for the lot. CUNO: Did that seem like a good deal at the time? GRONWALD: No. My parents’ friends and family thought they were crazy, ’cause they could buy a three-bedroom two-bath home on a lot down on the flat area in Los Angeles for that price and be done. But they didn’t listen to them. My mom and dad had a dream, and they wanted this house, they wanted this lot so bad that whatever they said didn’t matter. You know, they were called crazy and, you know, all sorts’a things. But they didn’t listen to ’em and they decided to do what they wanted to do. CROSS: I think the bottom line is that this is the story of a blue-collar family with a white-collar dream. You know, most people who think they know the Stahl House assume that someone rich and famous lives there, when in fact, it was this ordinary middleclass family who had a dream, and fought really hard to make it happen. CUNO: Were Case Study Houses a Southern California phenomenon, or could I go back to St. Louis and find one? STAHL: Primarily, all the Case Studies were out here. Most of ’em kind of in the LA area. There’s Case Study 25, which is down in Long Beach, but they didn’t venture too far. Back east, the climate wasn’t suitable for these modern-style homes. I mean, Case Study 22 would not survive in Chicago. It wouldn’t make it through a winter. The house may, but the people inside would not. But you know, Arts & Architecture magazine was California, Southern-California based, I believe. And this is where a lot of these new progressive architects lived. CUNO: Tell us about the photograph that Julius Shulman took of the house, and describe it for us and tell us about the importance of the photograph in the history of Case Study Houses. What role did he play in promoting the idea of the Case Study House and creating the romantic myth of such a house? CROSS: This photograph captures a corner of the house that’s cantilevered over nighttime Los Angeles, which sort of stretches out, glittering below like a carpet. It’s a glass box, essentially, with two women in white dresses sitting chatting in that cantilevered corner. And it just captures the spirit of an age in one image. And it really is something for an image to do that. He was instrumental in documenting a lot of the Case Study House. And I think that that image was part of the Stahl House’s rise to what it is today. Mark Stahl, who’s no longer with us, used to say that stars had to align for the Stahl House to be built, and also for it to rise to the level of a celebrity in its own right. And one of those stars was Julius Shulman. And I think there was an ongoing, I guess, friendly debate between Pierre and Julius, about who made who famous. And Julius liked to brag that he made Pierre Koenig famous, and the house; and Pierre Koenig would reply, “Well, you know, Julius, architects had to build the houses before you photographed them.” So I think it was kind of the constellation of, like, all of the things in one image. And that is one of the reasons the Stahl House is so famous. STAHL: Julius Shulman picture, if you talk to him about that image, and if you call it a picture, he will probably tell you it wasn’t a picture of a piece of architecture. He said he captured a picture of a mood that changed everything. And I think Julius looked at images in just a little bit different way than most photographers did. And regarding the back and forth with Koenig and Shulman, when that conversation always takes place, who made who famous, I always come back, “Well, if my father didn’t have the idea, then you both wouldn’t have it.” GRONWALD: But Buck used to always say, “They can have the fame; I have the house.” CUNO: Well, I was wondering if you could tell us when the photograph was taken. Before the house was completed, after the house was completed, before you moved into the house? CROSS: So the photograph was taken before the Stahl family actually moved in. It was a photo shoot for Arts & Architecture magazine, which was, of course, going to publish the house in full in the magazine, like it did the other Case Study Houses. Julius Shulman was ready to take the photo, and the house was not done. Pierre actually came to the house in the days before the scheduled shoot, found no one there, got very upset, found that just it wasn’t ready. And they had a deadline because it had to get to press. And so he wrote a really terse letter to the builder and saying, you know, “I have all this pressure. Julius Shulman’s ready to shoot it. John Entenza’s wondering when we can get the shots. Buck and Carlotta wanna move in. You know, when is this gonna be done?” So on the day of the shoot, it was still kind of in shambles. There was plaster dust everywhere, the landscaping was not done, the floors had not been finished. They had run out of money to put the terrazzo floors planned in, and so the floor was bare concrete. And Julius Shulman, who was famous for bringing houseplants and foliage from nearby bushes into his shots, sort of staged it so that it did look like there was landscaping. And he was setting up an indoor shot. And then he stepped outside to take in the view or look around, and that’s when he saw two girls sitting in the cantilevered corner. These girls had nothing to do with the house. They were the girlfriends of two architecture students who Pierre Koenig had asked to come up and help with the shoot. I think Julius liked to put people in his photos. And so he told Pierre, “Please, you know, tell them to bring their girlfriends, and tell them to wear nice clothes. They might be in a shot.” And so he saw them just naturally sitting there and chatting, and he said, “Oh, we’re redoing the shot.” So he runs inside, takes all of his equipment, redoes the lighting, and says, “Okay, girls, I want you to just, you know, sit there quietly.” And he has this really famous, super-complicated exposure, in the age before digital photography, where he had to expose first for the nighttime ambient line, so to get the city lights in the background. And so he had them sit quietly in the dark. And then he put light bulbs, flashbulbs into, I think, the bulb lights in the house, and he had a way to trigger it so that it would pop those bulbs and expose the girls, after he had burned in the nighttime ambient light with something like an eight-minute exposure. And so it’s a really tricky exposure to nail. And he was “one-shot Shulman, “and he did it perfectly. So that’s another reason that photo is so impressive. CUNO: Now, Shari and Bruce, what was it like to grow up in this house? STAHL: Well, fantastic. But as a kid growing up in it, our reference point was the house, so we didn’t realize really what kinda house we were growing up in until Shari and I got into high school, when the house became more and more famous and popular. I often tell people that ask what it was like, I go, “Well, you gotta remember, when the house was completed it wasn’t famous yet. It was different.” Today, the house is probably more famous than different. Now it’s a standard for Midcentury Modern. But growing up there, our life revolved around the pool, running around the hills. But the pool was the main focus. That was our main entertainment. GRONWALD: Like Bruce said, when were kids, it was just home. It wasn’t anything famous, it was home to us. And our friends loved coming up because it was different, and we had a pool. So my mother ended up being the taxi, because there were no kids living up in the area at the time, so she would have to go bring ’em down. And every weekend, she’d bring kids up to play with us. But we were always in the pool. If we weren’t in the pool, we were hiking in the hills, we were hiking down below the house. And we just, you know, whatever dirt we could find, we loved playing with. And it definitely shaped our lives when we got a little bit older, in high school. CUNO: Well, they almost lost the house in 1979, I think, when there was a fire nearby. Tell us about the fire and about the consequences for your house. STAHL: Shari, you could probably take this better, ’cause you were there. GRONWALD: Right. Let’s see. I guess what it was, my mother, father, and my brother Mark were at home. And I invited three friends to come up, and we just kinda laid out and tanned and went swimming. And Dad would sit out with all of us, and he was chatting. And all of a sudden, I see him look up to the sky, and I see this kinda scared look on his face. And all he said to me was, “Fire.” And we all jumped up and we ran out to the road. And we could just see the whole ridge behind us, all the homes are engulfed in flames. And it was taking out home after home after home. And it moved up so fast through the canyon that these people barely had time to get out of their house. It was a very scary time for everybody up there on our ridge, as well as the ridge behind us. Another issue was, there wasn’t enough fire trucks to actually put out the fire. They were trying to get up these windy roads, which in cases, were so narrow because of cars parked on one side. When they finally got up, there wasn’t enough firefighters to actually help put out the fire. So my friends ended up having to hold hoses for them, while they were busy using hoses somewhere else. When the fire started coming down our ridge, the first house that it would’ve hit was Buck Henry. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Buck Henry. He was the actor, comedian, and filmmaker years ago. And so my father and I, we ran up to Buck Henry’s house, ’cause we saw him on his roof with his water hose, trying to water down the roof, but the fire was approaching pretty fast. And so we ended up going up there with shovels, and trying to create some kinda fire break because these flames were pretty much licking at Buck Henry’s house. And we did our best to try and put it out, even as water tankers came over. There was one water tanker that actually came over and it dumped water right on my dad, when he was trying to make a fire break. And I’ve never seen my dad flattened to the ground so fast. And I was so afraid that it hurt him, but he was fine. He got up and he kept digging. We saved Buck Henry’s house, but it started coming down the side of the mountain, which didn’t have any homes on it; but it was creeping towards our house, which was really scary. And luckily, when it got about halfway down the ridge, the were able to control it and they were able to put that section out. So we feel very fortunate that it didn’t actually hit the house at all. CUNO: What about the exhibition at MoCA, Museum of Contemporary Art here in Los Angeles? The exhibition was called Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of Case Study Houses. Your house, the Stahl House, featured prominently in it. But I also had a feeling from your book, that the exhibition revived an interest in Case Study Houses. CROSS: So Blueprints for Modern Living was a real turning point in the story of the Stahl House. It was in 1989. I think it took five years to complete, and it was one of the most ambitious architectural exhibitions ever produced. It really resurrected the story of the Case Study House program and celebrated it. And it was designed by Craig Hodgetts and Ming Fung, who I believe worked with Hollywood set designers. And so they created this story of the Case Study House program where you entered through Ralph Rapson’s Greenbelt House, which was never built; and then you walked through a series of exhibits that told the story of that time. And then you ended on an upper level floor that presented a nighttime replica of the Stahl House. So it was so big that two Case Study Houses were reconstructed at full scale, basically in MoCA’s Temporary Contemporary, which was a former warehouse. And so you ended at the Stahl House. And you could look out over the exhibition floor and have the sense that you were above it all, like you do at the actual house. That exhibition marked the point at which the Stahl House started appearing in magazines and ads and films and TV shows. And I believe that because people were walking through it and seeing it, it really kind of put it on the map of Hollywood. And so it was, I believe, the only Case Study House to be built twice. And Bruce and Shari and their family got to walk through their own house in a museum. Bruce, do you wanna share what that was like for you? STAHL: Yeah, sure. I mean, it was— I don’t really like the term surreal, but it kinda was. And we were walkin’ through our home. And there was a bunch’a other people walking through it at the same time, and I pretty much couldn’t help myself. I had to just talk to a stranger. And I just said, “I grew up in this house.” And she turned to me and she goes, “You did?” And it was a conversation that I just had to— it just had to come out of me. I just was so excited about it. But one thing—and I’m sure Shari felt it, too—we were walkin’ through it and we could tell it was slightly off; it wasn’t exact. ’Cause growing up in the house, we know ever square inch, and if it’s an inch off, we’re gonna see it. And the replica was slightly off, but only to our eyes, because no one else could feel it, except for Shari and I and our family. CROSS: The other interesting thing about the exhibition is, I think it marked a turning point for Pierre Koenig, who was very underappreciated before then. I believe he had not yet been promoted to full professor at the USC School of Architecture, and he finally got the recognition that he deserved. CUNO: What happened to the house? I mean, I know it’s still standing, but what’s the structure that supports the house in a financial way? STAHL: The house we have today, Shari and I are still the owners-slash-stewards of the house. And today, the house is rented to the studios quite a bit. And we also, in 2009 or 2010, we opened the doors to tours, which is the main stable of resources that we use to renovate the house. Every year, we will close down the house in December and take a section of the house to renovate it. And every year we do this, and it’s paid for with the film revenue that we bring in, and also the tour revenue, which helps sustain the house. GRONWALD: My parents struggled in the beginning to get the house built. With three kids, it was a struggle financially to keep us all fed and clothed and still pay a mortgage. And they had to move out for a while because Buck ended up losing his job through the aerospace industry, and we had to move out for roughly about five years. Buck and Carlotta both went back to work, saved as much money as they could, ’cause they wanted to get back home. They wouldn’t sell the house; they decided they were gonna rent it, even though people told ’em, “Just sell it and get out of, you know, any financial problems you had.” But knowing my mom and dad, that was not an option. They loved that house. That was their home. And MoCA happened and all of a sudden, we started getting more studio calls. Mom would get calls for movies; she would get calls for photography ads and TV shows, and even videos. So the house started, at that time, it started paying them back. After all the struggles to get the house built, they had to move out, they finally had enough to get back, and now they were getting paid by the house, and it really helped with their finances. And as they got older, it helped with their retirement. So the house is really the film star in all this. It’s not us at all; it’s the house. And I think we’ve had about thirteen movies shot at the house. We’ve had three music videos, we had— These are the ones I know about. We had about ten television shows. We had commercials that are probably about in the numbers of twenty or thirty. We’ve had one documentary done on Julius Shulman that was— the house was included in. And we’re very thankful. And now on top of that, we started offering scheduled tours back in 2009. And those are also helping with us to keep the house, to keep it renovated, to keep it up in maintenance, and just be able to share it with the world. And that actually makes us very happy because that was something Mom really enjoyed doing. She loved opening it up to the studios and she would love opening her front door to any students or guests that wanted to see the house. And now we’re just opening it up on a more scheduled basis, and it’s actually helping us with the renovations and the upkeep. And it’s very much appreciated, that we could do that and again, share it with the world. CROSS: I just wanna jump in and say that, you know, the tours really started with Carlotta and how she would open her doors to anyone who wanted to see her house. And I think after the MoCA exhibition and after it started appearing in films and ads and all over the place—I believe it’s been published in something like 1200 different publications—after that happened, people just started making pilgrimages to the house from all over the world. And she would get strangers knocking on her door, and often they’d run into the street. But she always let them in. She’d welcome them in and say, “Hey, want a Coke?” And what’s so exceptional about this is she just never turned anyone away. Imagine that many strangers knocking on your door. And in the research for this book, I tried to find every recorded interview with Buck and Carlotta that I could. And in one interview, someone asked her, “So Carlotta, how many people come to your house in a given month?” And she said, “Oh, in a typical month, no fewer than a thousand.” And I just went, oh, my goodness. Can you imagine? Julius Shulman said that Carlotta was one of the best ambassadors for Modernist architecture that there ever was because she opened her house to people. And so I think it made sense for the kids to start doing formal tours, which helped with the upkeep of such an expensive house. But it’s still just a continuation of Carlotta’s spirit, to let people in to enjoy this house. She loved showing it off. Oh, the other thing I wanted to add is, I love the story of how whenever people would come, she would go and take all of the clutter off of the counters and shove it into the oven and the cabinets, so that people could enjoy the clean lines of the architecture without clutter. CUNO: Tell me what it means that the house is listed on the National Register of Historical Places, which I gather it was in 2013. GRONWALD: Both Bruce and I went—and actually, Mark was around—when it actually made the list for the National Register of Historical Places. We were very excited. And we had this feeling that we made it. We finally got on this register, after years of wanting to be, and also many years in the making by the Los Angeles Conservancy group. It just felt like the house finally got this honor. The house is a star; it’s now on the National Register. It was a very exciting time, because the National Historic Landmarks is just— It kinda puts a value to a piece of property or a structure, and it illustrates the history of Los Angeles. And it feels so good to be part of the history of Los Angeles. And the United States, actually. CUNO: Well, thank you, Shari, Bruce, and Kim, for giving us so much time on the podcast again this morning. The house is, without a doubt, a classic, and a durable part of Los Angeles architecture history. So we thank you very much. CROSS: Thanks for having us. GRONWALD: Thank you. Thank you for having us. STAHL: Thank you very much. CUNO: This episode was produced by Zoe Goldman, with audio production by Gideon Brower and mixing by Mike Dodge Weiskopf. Our theme music comes from the “The Dharma at Big Sur” composed by John Adams, for the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in 2003, and is licensed with permission from Hendon Music. Look for new episodes of Art and Ideas every other Wednesday, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. For photos, transcripts, and more resources, visit getty.edu/podcasts/ or if you have a question, or an idea for an upcoming episode, write to us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening.

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Julius Shulman’s Case Study House #22

The Greatest American Architectural Photographer of the 20th Century

Julius Shulman is often considered the greatest American architectural photographer of the 20th century. His photography shaped the image of South Californian lifestyle of midcentury America. For 70 years, he created on of the most comprehensive visual archives of modern architecture, especially focusing on the development of the Los Angeles region. The designs of some of the world’s most noted architectures including Richard Neutra, Ray Eames and Frank Lloyd Wright came to life though his photographs. To this day, it is through Shulman’s photography that we witness the beauty of modern architecture and the allure of Californian living.

Neutra and Beyond

Born in 1910 in Brooklyn, Julius Shulman grew up in a small farm in Connecticut before his family moved to Los Angeles at the age of ten. While in Los Angeles, Shulman was introduced to Boy Scouts and often went hiking in Mount Wilson. This allowed him to organically study light and shadow, and be immersed in the outdoors. While in college between UCLA and Berkeley, he was offered to photograph the newly designed Kun House by Richard Neutra. Upon photographing, Shulman sent the six images to the draftsman who then showed them to Neutra. Impressed, Richard Neutra asked Shulman to photograph his other houses and went on to introduce him to other architectures.

The Case Study Houses

Julius Shulman’s photographs revealed the true essence of the architect’s vision. He did not merely document the structures, but interpreted them in his unique way which presented the casual residential elegance of the West Coast. The buildings became studies of light and shadow set against breathtaking vistas. One of the most significant series in Shulman’s portfolio is without a doubt his documentation of the Case Study Houses. The Case Study House Program was established under the patronage of the Arts & Architectue magazine in 1945 in an effort to produce model houses for efficient and affordable living during the housing boom generated after the Second World War. Southern California was used as the location for the prototypes and the program commissioned top architects of the day to design the houses. Julius Shulman was chosen to document the designs and throughout the course of the program he photographed the majority of the 36 houses. Shulman’s photography gave new meaning to the structures, elevating them to a status of international recognition in the realm of architecture and design. His way of composition rendered the structures as inviting places for modern living, reflecting a sense of optimism of modern living.

Case Study House #22

Case Study House #22, also known as the Stahl House was one of the designs Julius Shulman photographed which later become one of the most iconic of his images. Designed by architect Pierre Koenig in 1959, the Stahl House was the residential home of American football player C.H Buck Stahl located in the Hollywood Hills. The property was initially regarded as undevelopable due to its hillside location, but became an icon of modern Californian architecture. Regarded as one of the most interesting masterpieces of contemporary architecture, Pierre Koenig preferred merging unconventional materials for its time such as steel with a simple, ethereal, indoor-outdoor feel. Julius’s dramatic image, taking in a warm evening in the May of 1960, shows two young ladies dressed in white party dresses lounging and chatting. The lights of the city shimmer in the distant horizon matching the grid of the city, while the ladies sit above the distant bustle and chaos. Pierre Koenig further explains in the documentary titled Case Study Houses 1945-1966 saying;

“When you look out along the beam it carries your eye right along the city streets, and the (horizontal) decking disappears into the vanishing point and takes your eye out and the house becomes one with the city below.”

The Los Angeles Good Life

The image presents a fantasy and is a true embodiment of the Los Angeles good life. By situating two models in the scene, Shulman creates warmth, helping the viewer to imagine scale as well as how life would be like living in this very house. In an interview with Taina Rikala De Noriega for the Archives of American Art Shulman recalls the making of the photograph;

“ So we worked, and it got dark and the lights came on and I think somebody had brought sandwiches. We ate in the kitchen, coffee, and we had a nice pleasant time. My assistant and I were setting up lights and taking pictures all along. I was outside looking at the view. And suddenly I perceived a composition. Here are the elements. I set up the furniture and I called the girls. I said, ‘Girls. Come over sit down on those chairs, the sofa in the background there.’ And I planted them there, and I said, ‘You sit down and talk. I’m going outside and look at the view.’ And I called my assistant and I said, ‘Hey, let’s set some lights.’ Because we used flash in those days. We didn’t use floodlights. We set up lights, and I set up my camera and created this composition in which I assembled a statement. It was not an architectural quote-unquote “photograph.” It was a picture of a mood.”

Purity in Line and Design to Perfection

Shulman’s preference to shoot in black and white reduces the subject to its geometrical essence allowing the viewer to observe the reflections, shadows and forms. A Shulman signature, horizontal and vertical lines appear throughout the image to create depth and dimensional perspective. A mastery in composition, the photograph catches purity in line and design to perfection.

A Lifetime of Achievements

Julius Shulman retired from active architectural work in 1989, leaving behind an incredibly rich archive chronicling the development of modern living in Southern California. A large part of his archive resides at the Getty Museum in California. For the next twenty years he participated in major museum and gallery exhibitions around the world, and created numerous books by publishers such as Taschen and Nazraeli Press. Among his honors, Shulman is the only photographer to have been granted honorary lifetime membership in the American Institute of Architects. In 1998 he was given a lifetime achievement award by ICP. Julius passed away in 2009 in his home in Los Angeles.

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Inside The Iconic Midcentury Stahl House (Case Study House #22)

Earlier this year I found myself lifted out of the streets of West Hollywood and into the hills above, to Woods Drive. What may appear to be a regular house in the Hollywood Hills as you drive up the winding, dead-end road, is much more spectacular than that. And unlike its neighbors, the house—now a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument—was originally built as an inexpensive, efficient model home. Over a half century later, Case Study House #22 (better known as the Stahl House ) has gone on to become a property so coveted, even the tours sell out fast.

I purchased my tickets about a month ahead of time (this is when they typically sell out, so plan ahead), and when I arrived I was pleasantly surprised that not only was the tour being given by a family member (it is given by a friend of the family on some occassions), but the tour groups are kept small. This is to give you an uncrowded experience—you can spend one hour on the grounds, taking photos clean of other people in the shots, or serenely sitting by the crystal blue pool like you own the place.

There are afternoon, late afternoon, and evening tours—you can find the schedule and buy tickets here .

History of the Stahl House

In 1960, Julius Shulman took that iconic photograph of two women sitting inside, at the corner of the home that hangs over the edge of the mountain it sits upon. The shot was something out of a surreal dreamscape—two women poised, smiling, calm, in a home that appeared to be floating there over a rocky ledge. But it was real, and it would become the ultimate representation of 20th century architecture in Los Angeles, where nothing seems real anyway.

It was the perfect image given that the vision all started as a dream, one of Buck and Carlotta Stahl, who purchased the property for $13,500 six years earlier, in 1954. The two provided inspiration for the design, which was brought to life by architect Pierre Koenig. Here’s how it went down according to the Stahl family , who still own the home, and while there are tours, some of them still live there:

The Stahl House story starts in May 1954 when the Stahls purchased a small lot above Sunset Blvd. Over the following two years C.H. ‘Buck’ Stahl and Carlotta Stahl worked weekends constructing the broken concrete wall that surrounds the buildable portion of the lot. During these working weekends, the design and vision for the Stahl House began to take shape. In the Summer of 1956, Buck Stahl constructed a three dimensional model of their dream home. It is with this model they interviewed and hired Architect Pierre Koenig in November 1957. On April 8th, 1959, the home was inducted into the Case Study House program by Arts & Architecture magazine, and assigned the number 22. Construction of the house began in May 1959 and was completed a year later in May of 1960.

Stahl residence, 1960s. (Courtesy of the USC Libraries )

The pavilion-type house was described as "a happy combination of site, soil, height, and location combined to suggest a solution in which it was possible to take advantage of all elements without the necessity of compromising design." For all of these reasons, as well as the interior design of the space, it's been spotted used in plenty of movies: Smog (1962); The First Power (1990); The Marrying Man (1991); Corrina, Corrina (1994); Playing by Heart (1998); Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998); Galaxy Quest (1999); The Thirteenth Floor (1999); Nurse Betty (2000); and Where the Truth Lies (2005). It's also been on the small screen, namely in Columbo . And maybe you remember the video for Wilson Philips' "Release Me"?

History of the Case Study Houses

The Case Study Houses were beautiful experiments in residential architecture, all spawned from an Arts & Architecture project that lasted from 1945 to 1966. The original 1954 announcement ( PDF ) included just eight houses, and read, in part, "We are, within the limits of uncontrollable factors, proposing to begin immediately the study, planning, actual design and construction of eight houses, each to fulfill the specifications of a special living problem in the Southern California area."

The magazine commissioned some big architects of the era to design inexpensive model homes when the U.S. was dealing with a post-war housing boom. In the end, 27 structures were built, almost all in Los Angeles, and nearly all photographed by Shulman. Today, 20 remain, while 3 were demolished and 4 were altered beyond recognition. Below, you'll find a full list of those that were built, with accompanying PDFs to the original profile of each home that ran Arts & Architecture.

Case Study House #8, the Eames House . (Photo courtesy of Architectural Resources Group)

• Case Study House #1 ( PDF ) still exists at 10152 Toluca Lake Avenue in North Hollywood
• Case Study House #2 ( PDF ) still exists at 857 Chapea Road in Pasadena
• Case Study House #3 ( PDF ) at 13187 Chalon Road in L.A. was demolished
• Case Study House #7 ( PDF ) still exists at 6236 North Deerfield Avenue in San Gabriel
• Case Study House #8, the Eames House ( PDF ) still exists at 203 Chautauqua Boulevard in Pacific Palisades
• Case Study House #9 ( PDF ) still exists at 205 Chautauqua Boulevard in Pacific Palisades
• Case Study House #10 ( PDF ) at 711 South San Rafael Avenue in Pasadena was significantly altered
• Case Study House #11 ( PDF ) at 540 South Barrington Avenue in West Los Angeles was demolished
• Case Study House #15 ( PDF ) still exists at 4755 Lasheart Drive in La Canada
• Case Study House #16 ( PDF ) at 9945 Beverly Grove Drive in Beverly Hills was demolished
• Case Study House #17A ( PDF ) still exists at 7861 Woodrow Wilson Drive in L.A.
• Case Study House #17B ( PDF ) at 9554 Hidden Valley Road was remodeled beyond recognition
• Case Study House #18A ( PDF ) still exists at 199 Chautauqua Boulevard in Pacific Palisades
• Case Study House #18B ( PDF ) at 1129 Miradero Road in Beverly Hills was remodeled beyond recognitio
• Case Study House #20A ( PDF ) still exists at 219 Chautauqua Boulevard in Pacific Palisades
• Case Study House #20B ( PDF ) still exists at 2275 Santa Rosa Avenue in Altadena
• Case Study House #21 ( PDF ) still exists at 9038 Wonderland Park Avenue in West Hollywood (and it's currently for sale )
• Case Study House 1950 ( PDF ) still exists at 1080 Ravoli Drive in Pacific Palisades, however it has been remodeled
• Case Study House 1953 ( PDF ) still exists at 1811 Bel Air Road in Bel-Air
• Case Study House #22, the Stahl House ( PDF ) still exists at 1635 Woods Drive in L.A.
• Case Study House #23 was a triad ( PDF ) 23A and 23C still exists, while 23B remodeled beyond recognition. They are all in La Jolla.
• Case Study House #25 ( PDF ) still exists at 82 Rivo Alto Canal in Long Beach
• Case Study House #26 ( PDF ) still exists at 177 San Marino Drive in San Rafael
• Case Study House #28 ( PDF ) still exists at 91 Inverness Road in Thousand Oaks
• Case Study Apartments #1 ( PDF ) still exists 4402 28th Street in Phoenix, Arizona

That last one was an attempt to deliver a more appealing multi-family residential unit, which they presented in their magazine alongside a brutal takedown of the dingbat apartment model . By the time Case Study Apartments #1 was built in 1964, the dingbat was here to stay, having spread over the city during the development-driven era of the 1950s.

Their statement read: "Our intention is to overcome by example, not just precept, as many as possible of those misconceptions and prejudices which have bred the outrageous 'dingbat' apartments, the cheap and blowzy eyesores that continue to proliferate everywhere in our country." They also wrote that ground would soon be breaking in Newport Beach for Case Study Apartments #2, but it never came to be. One apartment in the #1 property sold in 2014 for under $500,000, while another was on rental market for $1200/month —it's all been preserved, and you can see recent photos here .

The Stahl House isn't the only Case Study House that offers tours, you can also visit #8 (the Eames House)— make a reservation here .

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Case study definition

Case study, a term which some of you may know from the "Case Study of Vanitas" anime and manga, is a thorough examination of a particular subject, such as a person, group, location, occasion, establishment, phenomena, etc. They are most frequently utilized in research of business, medicine, education and social behaviour. There are a different types of case studies that researchers might use:

• Collective case studies

• Descriptive case studies

• Explanatory case studies

• Exploratory case studies

• Instrumental case studies

• Intrinsic case studies

Case studies are usually much more sophisticated and professional than regular essays and courseworks, as they require a lot of verified data, are research-oriented and not necessarily designed to be read by the general public.

How to write a case study?

It very much depends on the topic of your case study, as a medical case study and a coffee business case study have completely different sources, outlines, target demographics, etc. But just for this example, let's outline a coffee roaster case study. Firstly, it's likely going to be a problem-solving case study, like most in the business and economics field are. Here are some tips for these types of case studies:

• Your case scenario should be precisely defined in terms of your unique assessment criteria.

• Determine the primary issues by analyzing the scenario. Think about how they connect to the main ideas and theories in your piece.

• Find and investigate any theories or methods that might be relevant to your case.

• Keep your audience in mind. Exactly who are your stakeholder(s)? If writing a case study on coffee roasters, it's probably gonna be suppliers, landlords, investors, customers, etc.

• Indicate the best solution(s) and how they should be implemented. Make sure your suggestions are grounded in pertinent theories and useful resources, as well as being realistic, practical, and attainable.

• Carefully proofread your case study. Keep in mind these four principles when editing: clarity, honesty, reality and relevance.

Are there any online services that could write a case study for me?

Luckily, there are!

We completely understand and have been ourselves in a position, where we couldn't wrap our head around how to write an effective and useful case study, but don't fear - our service is here.

We are a group that specializes in writing all kinds of case studies and other projects for academic customers and business clients who require assistance with its creation. We require our writers to have a degree in your topic and carefully interview them before they can join our team, as we try to ensure quality above all. We cover a great range of topics, offer perfect quality work, always deliver on time and aim to leave our customers completely satisfied with what they ordered.

The ordering process is fully online, and it goes as follows:

• Select the topic and the deadline of your case study.

• Provide us with any details, requirements, statements that should be emphasized or particular parts of the writing process you struggle with.

• Leave the email address, where your completed order will be sent to.

• Select your payment type, sit back and relax!

With lots of experience on the market, professionally degreed writers, online 24/7 customer support and incredibly low prices, you won't find a service offering a better deal than ours.

Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

• Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
• Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
• The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
• Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
• A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
• Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
• The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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Map shows alleged Ballarat murders of Hannah McGuire, Samantha Murphy part of bigger gendered violence issue

Analysis Map shows alleged Ballarat murders of Hannah McGuire, Samantha Murphy part of bigger gendered violence issue

"What the hell is going on in Ballarat?"

Many versions of this question, with varying levels of expletives, have echoed across Victoria and Australia in the past day or two.

It is a fair question — the regional Victorian city has been hit by more tragedy and trauma in the past two months than you would expect in a place with a population of around 110,000 people.

On February 4, 51-year-old woman Samantha Murphy disappeared after heading off for a jog.

On February 16, mother-of-five Rebecca Young was found dead in a Sebastopol home, the victim of a suspected murder-suicide.

On February 22, bushfires west of Ballarat destroyed seven homes, forced mass evacuations, and turned the sky over the city an apocalyptic red.

On March 7, Patrick Orren Stephenson was charged with Ms Murphy's murder .

On March 13, a rockfall at Ballarat Gold Mine killed miner Kurt Hourigan .

And on April 5, the body of 23-year-old Clunes woman Hannah McGuire was found in a burnt-out car in bushland south-west of Ballarat, and her ex-boyfriend Lachlan Young was charged with murder over her death.

The events of the past 61 days have cast a pall of shock, grief, and confusion over the city.

So many people have been left in mourning, reeling from the loss of their loved ones, their friends, their homes.

It's unclear whether anyone is at fault following the bushfires and the mining rockfall, which is no solace to those who have suffered deep losses because of them.

But three women are dead following two tragic months, and each is alleged to have been murdered by a man, with two very young men before the courts, charged in relation to two of those deaths.

Not just a Ballarat problem

Of the 18 Australian women allegedly killed by men this year, three have died in the Ballarat region.

To put that another way, the lives of 16 per cent of all women allegedly killed by men in Australia this year are believed to have ended in the Ballarat region.

It may sound like an unlikely figure, but the reality is that data shows the rate of family violence in the Victorian town is higher than state and national averages.

Which brings us back to the original question: what the hell is going on in Ballarat?

In 2021, the rate of family violence common assault in Ballarat was approximately 12 per cent higher than across the state, according to crime statistics.

But these latest events are something new and even more frightening.

The Victorian government's crime data shows that in five of the past 10 years in Ballarat, there were three or fewer homicides.

And now three women are believed to have been murdered in Ballarat in the space of 61 days.

But this is not just a Ballarat problem. Across Australia, a woman is killed by a man every nine days.

Premier Jacinta Allan put it succinctly on Tuesday.

"It's only April 9 and already 18 Australian women have been killed in 2024," she said.

"This is unacceptable and it has to stop."

So what is going on in Ballarat?

What's going on in Ballarat is the same thing that is happening everywhere, just in a more condensed period of time.

Take a look at the Red Heart Campaign , a remarkable memorial that tracks the women and children lost to violence.

Award-winning journalist Sherele Moody has put together a map that she regularly updates.

It features a red heart for every murder, with details on who the victim was and how they died.

When you zoom out and look at the whole of Australia, the number of red hearts is overwhelming.

Samantha Murphy is on there. Rebecca Young is on there. Hannah McGuire will no doubt be added soon.

These three women have died, allegedly at the hands of men, in tragedies that could have been avoided.

These deaths didn't need to happen, and they are the latest examples of a major problem facing Australia.

Gendered violence is very much alive in Ballarat and Samantha Murphy, Rebecca Young, and Hannah McGuire are not here because of it.

Matt Neal is the editor of ABC Ballarat.

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