Is the Stahl House Priceless?

Curated Mid-Century Modern Home Listings 📍

Dec 01, 2025

What is a one-of-a-kind work of art worth? Well, more often than not, the answer is “whatever someone is willing to pay.”

Earlier this month, a painting by Gustav Klimt sold for $236.4 million with fees at Sotheby’s in New York. It became the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction, second only to the controversial Salvator Mundi.

The six foot tall painting, Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, was created sometime between 1914 and 1916. It depicts Lederer, a young heiress and the daughter of Klimt’s patrons, wearing a Chinese robe. Six bidders competed for over twenty minutes. The winning buyer has not been identified.

Gustav Klimt, *Porträt der Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer)*

The striking painting carries an equally fascinating history. It was looted by the Nazis during World War II and nearly destroyed in a fire. In 1948, the portrait was recovered and returned to Lederer’s brother Erich. It remained in his possession for decades until he sold it in 1983, two years before his death. In 1985, the painting became part of the private collection of Leonard A. Lauder. He displayed it in his Fifth Avenue home in New York, with brief periods on loan to museums. Lauder’s death in June ultimately led to this month’s record breaking sale.

Compared to art, real estate pricing feels rather objective. Price per square foot and comparable sales generally guide the math for both buyers and sellers. But truly unique properties operate under their own rules.

Last week, the Stahl House was listed for sale for the first time ever. The asking price? $25 million. The home, also known as Case Study House #22, was designed for the Stahl family by architect Pierre Koenig and completed in 1960. It was first made famous through photographs by Julius Shulman but would later go on to be featured in dozens of Hollywood movies, TV Shows, and photoshoots. The Architect’s Newspaper has called it “one of the world’s most famous buildings.” Los Angeles magazine described Shulman’s image of the house as “perhaps the most famous photograph ever taken of Los Angeles.”

The Stahl House, shot by Julius Shulman.

So is the $25 million asking price realistic? According to Redfin, the median home in Los Angeles sold for roughly $642 per square foot in 2025, while top decile home prices can exceed $1,200 per square foot. Richard Neutra’s thoughtfully restored Hailey House has sat on the market with a roughly $2,000 per square foot asking price. The Stahl House on the other hand, with ~2,300 square feet of living space, is listed with an approximately $11,364 per square foot asking price.

As one listing agent put it, “there are no real comps. The family is seeking a buyer who understands the house and its place in architectural history.”

How do you value something that probably belongs in a museum, or a structure that could itself be a museum? Are these financial assets or cultural artifacts? Traditional pricing formulas break and give way to something simpler: Value is set by the person willing (and rich enough) to own it. And hey, maybe compared to a $236,000,000 painting, a $25,000,000 home is a bargain.