These midcentury moderns make up a 17-house enclave built by none other than rock star architect Richard Neutra, And now one of those homes—perched at the summit of a canyon in Sherman Oaks, CA—is on the market for $1.55 million. A whole neighborhood of stilt homes. Be sure to have your parachute ready for when the big one hits. But consider this...
These homes have survived seven major earthquakes since they were built in 1966. And this house, in particular, was reinforced again after the 1994 Northridge quake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter scale.
Quite apart from being structurally sound, the home has plenty of other features to boast of, such as floor-to-ceiling windows that give the impression that the home is virtually floating on air.
The transparent glass balcony railings make you feel as if there's nothing between you and the open sky. Sipping your morning coffee out there could easily leave you feeling that you're at a cafe in the clouds—especially when there's fog in the valley below.
At 1,800 square feet, it's not a large house, but it feels much bigger than that, because of the open rooms and floor-to-ceiling windows.
The current owner has only been there a couple of years—he bought the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home in 2017 for $1,310,000. He's added some state-of-the-art, high-tech features to the place since then. He made it a smart house with Control 4 technology, and added a Sonos surround-sound system, automatic drop-down blackout shades, a drop-down screen and a high-end projector, so that at a flick of a switch, the open living room can be converted into a first-class home theater.
The interior had already been renovated and restored, with updated features like a steam shower and heated floors in the master bath. But the focal point of the home—the living room's grand stone fireplace—has been left intact.
Wait, a steam shower?? This may require more investigation.
Wait..who mows the yard?
ReplyDeleteWho cleans the windows?
DeleteI lived in a Richard Neutra house for a couple of years, a beautiful spacious place that had been subdivided into numerous small units. It owned by a student housing association that had bought it in 1941 for $45,000.
ReplyDeleteI nearly burned it down once making pyrotechnics over a camp stove.
Another time - it was sited on a steep hill - we used it a a launching pad for bowling balls, to the detriment of the cars parked at the bottom of the hill.
This was a long time ago and the statute of limitations has expired on all that stuff.
That was a rounded, flying saucer sort of house, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteThe house is genius, even with the stilts, but the deal-breaker is still and always the city of L.A. location, which is sheer lunacy, any time since 1990.
ReplyDeleteThe point of having $1.5M in the first place would be to relocate as far from that metropolitan world-class cesspit as possible, in a much more hospitable location.
If we could move an Elizabethan fortress brick by brick, I'd still only be in L.A. if I could have miniguns on the ramparts.
And probably not even then.
If the Navy brought the BBs out of mothballs one more time, and used L.A. as a naval target for 16" guns,
1) it would be a good start
2) 95% of the residents would never even notice.