1635 Woods Dr

The Stahl House, Case Study House #22, is for sale at $20,000,000. Pierre Koenig designed it for Buck and Carlotta Stahl in 1959, Julius Shulman photographed it in 1960 into one of the most reproduced images in American architecture, and the same family has owned it ever since. The listing calls this the first time they have offered it. It is 2,200 square feet, two bedrooms, on a quarter-acre shelf above Sunset with a 270-degree view, and it is shown to pre-qualified buyers only.

The land and setting

A 0.285-acre hillside lot, 107 by 109 feet by the MLS, at the end of a gated private drive off Sunset Boulevard. The listing gives the view as canyon, city, city lights, hills, ocean, panoramic and trees, and zoning as LARE9. The house sits at the edge of the pad with the floor plane running out over the drop, and the city fills everything beyond the glass.

The pool is in-ground, heated and filtered, with a hot tub, set into the terrace between the two wings. Security is listed as exterior lights, a gate and cameras. The listing’s directions are three words: off Sunset Blvd.

The house

Built in 1959, one level, 2,200 square feet, steel and glass, with sliding glass doors and a decorative fireplace. Two bedrooms and three baths, two full and one half, in a Jack and Jill arrangement per the MLS. Heat is radiant. There is no air conditioning: the MLS says no cooling. Floors are carpet and stone tile. Two covered parking spaces in an attached carport.

The steel frame is the point. Koenig’s structure lets the roof cantilever past the corner post so the glass turns without interruption, the detail the listing calls the floating corner. The photos show the steel deck ceiling running continuously from inside to outside, a stone fireplace column anchoring the living end, and a kitchen looking straight out over the city.

The house is a City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, number 670 on the plaque in the listing’s own photograph, and it is on the National Register of Historic Places. It carries a Mills Act contract. The listing says it presents opportunities for restoration, modernization and personalization, and immediately qualifies that with “in accordance with the property’s architectural significance and applicable preservation guidelines.”

The facts

Price	$20,000,000
Acreage	0.285 acres per the MLS, 12,414 sq ft, dimensions 107 x 109. County record: 0.28 acres
Beds / baths / sqft	2 / 3 (2 full, 1 half) / 2,200 per the listing. County record: 2 beds, 2 baths, 2,200 sq ft
Year built	1959 per the listing. County record: built 1959, renovated 1959
Property taxes	$3,926.18 (2025), on a taxable value of $271,593. Mills Act contract per the listing
HOA	Not listed
Financing	Not listed. Shown to pre-qualified clients only per the listing
Water	Not listed
Sewer	Not listed
Power	Not listed
Internet	Not listed
Heating / cooling	Radiant heat. No cooling per the MLS
Pool	In-ground, heated and filtered, with a hot tub
Parking	2 covered spaces, attached carport
Road access	Private road, gated drive off Sunset Boulevard. Frontage Not listed
Zoning	LARE9
Flood zone	Not listed
Historic status	City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 670. National Register of Historic Places. Mills Act contract
Days on market	282 (listed November 20, 2025)
Listing agent	William Baker, 310-867-0847, DRE #01931658
Brokerage	The Agency, 424-230-3700
Agent email	Not listed
MLS	CLAW #25621475. APN 5556-031-003

What to know before you call

The tax bill is the single biggest number to understand. The 2025 bill was $3,926.18, on a taxable value of $271,593 that has crept up about 2% a year since the 1970s. That figure exists because of Proposition 13, which caps annual increases while the same owner holds the property. A sale resets the assessment to the purchase price. California’s base rate of roughly 1.1% applied to a $20,000,000 sale is about $220,000 a year, our calculation, not a figure from the listing. The Mills Act contract, which trades tax relief for a maintenance and preservation agreement, is the main thing that would soften it. Ask what the contract requires, whether it survives the sale, and what the assessor projects post-transfer.

Landmark status limits what you may do. Monument No. 670, the National Register listing and the Mills Act contract each carry their own review. The listing offers “restoration, modernization, and personalization” and then bounds it with preservation guidelines in the same sentence. Get those conditions in writing, and price the house on what you are permitted to do with it, not what you would like to.

The county has two baths, the listing has three. Los Angeles County records 2 bedrooms and 2 baths at 2,200 square feet. The MLS says 2 full and 1 half, which is the three. A half bath missing from the county record is a small thing on most houses. On a landmarked house of documented design it is worth tracing, because permits and preservation review are the same conversation here. Ask when it was added and whether it was permitted.

Square footage and lot size agree with the county. The 2,200 square feet matches exactly, and the lot is 0.285 acres per the MLS against 0.28 in the county record, which is rounding.

The price has already come down $5,000,000. Listed November 20, 2025 at $25,000,000 and cut to $20,000,000 on April 13, 2026. That is 282 days on the market and a 20% reduction on an asset with no real comparables, because there is one Case Study House #22.

No cooling, radiant heat, and a 1959 envelope. The MLS lists no air conditioning. A steel-and-glass house facing the city takes a great deal of sun, and adding climate control to a landmarked structure is a preservation question before it is a mechanical one.

Access is restricted before you ever see it. The listing says shown to pre-qualified clients only. Expect to prove funds before a showing is scheduled.

Who it suits. The listing answers this itself: collectors of design, patrons of architecture, or an institution. It frames the sale as passing custodianship rather than a transaction. This is the most expensive property on this site by a wide margin, and it is here because the tax and preservation mechanics are worth reading whatever your budget. For the other end of what we cover there is the gated 45 acres with a pool courtyard in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and the rest is on the properties page.

Showings go through William Baker at The Agency, 310-867-0847, or the office at 424-230-3700, for pre-qualified buyers. More like this lands in the Monday email.