The Stahl House by Pierre Koenig is the most famous house in Los Angeles: a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath, 2,200-square-foot midcentury modern icon of steel, glass and concrete that seems to hover above Hollywood Hills and the glittering grid of the city far below.

And now, for the first time since it was completed in 1960, it can be yours — for a cool $25 million.

The Stahl House’s sticker price works out to an astronomical $11,364 per square foot — a figure that would likely shatter records if achieved. Ultra-luxury properties in L.A. tend to sell for “only” $2,000 to $6,000+ per square foot, according to LAHomes.com. The most expensive sale in U.S. history — billionaire Ken Griffin’s $238 million purchase in 2019 of a 24,000-square-foot Manhattan penthouse — came in just under $10,000 per square foot.

But anyone familiar with the story of the Stahl House — and its place in the firmament of modernist architecture — would argue that this is one instance where the normal rules of real estate might not apply.

First, the particulars. There is a pool, a carport and a fireplace. The kitchen has been adjusted slightly to accommodate contemporary appliances. The matched-grain white oak cabinets are newer; they replaced the original dark mahogany casework after it faded in direct sunlight.

Only one family has ever owned the house. After nearly two decades of meticulously maintaining and preserving their childhood home while living elsewhere — work they funded in part by offering regular public tours — the Stahl siblings have now decided to look for the “the next custodian who will honor the house's history, respect its architectural purity, and ensure its preservation for generations to come,” according to the listing by William Baker of the Agency.

“This home has been the center of our lives for decades,” Bruce and Shari Stahl wrote on their website. “But as we’ve gotten older, it has become increasingly challenging to care for it with the attention and energy it so richly deserves.”

The layout of the Stahl House is simple: an “L” with one wing devoted to bedrooms and the other to a great room of sorts — a flowing kitchen, dining and living area punctuated by a freestanding fireplace. The views, of course, are spectacular: a 270-degree panorama from one of the highest promontories in the Hills. The lot covers more than a quarter of an acre, most of it steep, unbuildable slope. A gated drive shields the house from the street.

Yet none of these details explains the property’s (potential) $25 million appeal. While there are hundreds of houses in L.A. with views and pools and privacy, “there is only one Stahl House” (as Baker puts it).

The architecture itself is a big part of the equation. Clarence “Buck” Stahl and his wife, Carlotta, bought the lot in 1954 for $13,500 — the equivalent of $163,000 today — and immediately began planning their dream home. Buck flattened and stabilized the site himself with cast-off shards of concrete. He even constructed his own scale model, with unbroken 20-foot walls of glass.

By 1957, the Stahls were ready to interview architects. The 32-year-old Koenig, Carlotta later said, “was the one with the enthusiasm” for building such an uncompromising design on such a difficult site. “It was like, ‘I want this house!’” she told an interviewer. “‘I want to do this house!’”

Koenig, a pioneer of residential steel construction, distilled the architecture further, flattening the Stahls’ butterfly roof and straightening their suggested curves. His reasoning was more practical than anything else; Koenig preferred to work with prefabricated components rather than costly custom parts.

But the result, with its cantilevered corner designed to “mirro[r] the grid-like arrangement of the streets below the lot,” transcended its pragmatic roots. “When you look out along the beams it carries your eye out right along the city streets, and the decking disappears into the vanishing point and takes your eye out,” Koenig explained in 1989. “The house becomes one with the city below.”

In 2016, Time magazine selected Shulman’s signature image of the Stahl House — two young women in elegant dresses perched in sleek chairs, surrounded by glass, high above the sparkling lights of the city — as one of the 100 most influential photos of all time: a picture that “perfected the art of aspirational staging, turning a house into the embodiment of the Good Life, of stardusted Hollywood, of California as the Promised Land.”

Versions of that image have permeated pop culture in the decades since, with cameos in The Simpsons, The Sims 3, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Nurse Betty and Galaxy Quest (not to mention countless ads, commercials and fashion shoots). According to Koenig, “The Stahls paid off the original $35,000 mortgage for the house and pool in a couple of years through location rentals”; the house eventually became “their entire income.”

It remains to be seen whether this sort of stardust is potent enough to bring in $25 million for what remains a relatively modest residence. The Stahls say any new owner must be more than a trophy hunter; they would also have to “honor the legacy of our parents, Buck and Carlotta, respect Pierre Koenig’s vision, and be committed to protecting the house today and far into the future.”

According to Baker’s listing, the Stahl House is only being “shown to pre-qualified clients.” But the rest of us can still experience it firsthand — at least until it changes hands.

“For those who love visiting the Stahl House, please know that our tour program will continue unchanged for the time being, and we will provide ample notice before any adjustments are made,” the Stahls added in their statement. “Welcoming visitors from around the world, sharing stories, and watching people experience the magic of this house for the first time has been deeply meaningful.”