The Case Study Houses of Los Angeles
The 1945 to 1966 experiment that shaped the modern California house: what the Case Study program was, which LA houses survive, and how to see them respectfully.
If you've ever seen a photo of a glass living room cantilevered over the lights of Los Angeles, you've seen a Case Study House. The program was a magazine's bet that modern architecture could become the everyday American home. It never quite did that. What it did instead was define the look of the California house for the next 80 years.
What the program was
In January 1945, Arts & Architecture magazine, edited by John Entenza, announced that it would sponsor a series of model houses for postwar life, according to the program's documented history. The idea, as the Los Angeles Conservancy puts it, was replicable construction using modern industrial materials: steel frames, big panes of glass, open plans and walls that slide away to the yard.
Over roughly two decades, 36 designs were commissioned and about 25 were built, most of them in Southern California. The architects included Richard Neutra, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Craig Ellwood, Pierre Koenig, Raphael Soriano and J.R. Davidson. In 2013, ten of the Southern California houses were added to the National Register of Historic Places together, and the Eames House is a National Historic Landmark.
Where they are
A few survive in recognizable form across LA. A selection, with the program's numbers:
- Pacific Palisades, Chautauqua Boulevard. The densest cluster: the Eames House (#8, 1949) by Charles and Ray Eames, the Entenza House (#9, 1950) by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen, the West House (#18, 1948) by Rodney Walker, and the Bailey House (#20, 1948), the only built Case Study design by Richard Neutra. The Eames House came through the January 2025 Palisades Fire. See our Pacific Palisades guide.
- The Stahl House (#22), Hollywood Hills. Pierre Koenig's steel and glass house at 1635 Woods Drive, built from 1959 to 1960 on a steep lot that Koenig treated as an advantage rather than a problem. Julius Shulman's twilight photo of its living room over the city made it famous.
- The Bailey House (#21), Laurel Canyon. Koenig's earlier steel house, completed in 1959 on Wonderland Park Avenue.
- The Salzman House (#16), Bel Air. Craig Ellwood's 1953 house on Bel Air Road, a crisp steel-frame pavilion. See our Bel Air guide.
- The Frank House (#25), Long Beach. Completed in 1962 by Killingsworth, Brady, Smith and Associates on the Rivo Alto Canal in Naples. See our Long Beach guide.
- Toluca Lake and Pasadena. J.R. Davidson's #1 sits on Toluca Lake Avenue, and #2, by Sumner Spaulding and John Rex, was completed in 1947 on Chapea Road in Pasadena. See our Toluca Lake and Pasadena guides.
Not everything survived. Several houses were demolished over the years, including #3 on Chalon Road and Ellwood's #18 in Beverly Hills, and others were remodeled past recognition. Dwell has a good photo roundup of the best-known survivors.
Seeing them
Almost all of these are private homes, so the rule is simple: look from the public street, don't block driveways, and don't go up to the door. Two offer formal visits:
- The Eames House. The Eames Foundation runs grounds and studio visits and exterior tours by advance reservation, with public dates released monthly. There's no parking at the house; the foundation gives drop-off and parking directions.
- The Stahl House. The family runs tours by reservation through stahlhouse.com. The street is narrow and residential, so book rather than drive up.
If you're buying modern in LA
Actual Case Study Houses come up for sale rarely. What you'll see much more often is their influence: post-and-beam houses, steel and glass hillside homes, and 1950s and 60s tract houses with open plans and sliding glass walls. Our guide to mid-century modern homes covers where to find them and what to look at closely.
A few things that come with this kind of house:
- Designation. A house that's a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument or on the National Register can carry review requirements for exterior changes. Verify the status with the city's Office of Historic Resources before you plan a remodel.
- Glass and steel. Original single-pane glass and steel frames are part of what makes these houses what they are, and they need specialists to repair well.
- Flat roofs. Low-slope roofs and built-in gutters are worth a careful inspection, especially before the rainy season.
If a house like this catches your eye, I'll gather the permit history, designation records and inspection reports so you can decide with everything in front of you.
General information, not advice. Price figures are estimates from public data and may be out of date.
