Architect Ray Kappe’s Modernist Home in L.A. Just Listed for $11.5 Million
- Renowned architect Ray Kappe's midcentury home in Los Angeles, which he built in 1962 for $17,000, is now on the market for $11.5 million, showcasing a treehouse-like structure hovering off a steep hillside in Rustic Canyon.
Ray Kappe passed away in 2019 at age 92, but a substantial piece of the modernist architect and Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) founding director's history abides at this landmarked home in Los Angeles that he long shared with his wife, Shelly, who died last year. Still owned by the Kappe family, the midcentury digs in the Rustic Canyon neighborhood of Pacific Palisades have now hit the market for the first time with an $11.5 million price tag. Ian Brooks of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties holds the listing .
The striking treehouse-like structure is set on a heavily wooded parcel spanning a third of an acre, which was purchased by Kappe in 1962 for $17,000 and was originally deemed unbuildable because of its underground springs. To solve the problem, he placed the redwood and glass retreat atop laminated fir beams bolted to six massive, deep-set concrete towers, with the entire spread dramatically hovering off the side of a steep hillside overlooking sprawling canyon vistas.
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Architect Ray Kappe poses among his files, floor plans, drawings, and models at the Pacific Palisades home in in 2007.
RELATED : A Ray Kappe–Designed Home Lists for $10 Million in Santa Monica
Designated as Historic-Cultural Monument No. 623 by the city of Los Angeles in 1996, the property features five bedrooms and a matching number of bathrooms in roughly 4,100 square feet organized across seven split levels spilling out to cantilevered decks, terraces, and platforms. The ground floor is dedicated to Kappe's office/studio, while the upper floors hold staggered living areas connected by internal bridges and staircases.
A series of concrete pavers beginning at the street level winds its way up to a wood footbridge before emptying at the expansive covered entry. Inside, the open-concept interiors are centered on a sunken living room with a 14-foot beamed ceiling and a two-way fireplace. Other highlights include a bookshelf-lined den, a dining room, and an eat-in kitchen sporting a central island and a connected breakfast bar flanked by banquette seating, plus a sky-lit primary bedroom and en suite bath tucked away in the northeast wing.
A central sunken living room is flanked by Kappe's architecture office below and a den up top.
RELATED : A Ray Kappe–Designed Beachfront Masterpiece in Marina del Rey Lists for $7 Million
Rounding it all off are the secluded, ivy-covered grounds, which are laced with bamboo alongside mature sycamore, eucalyptus, and oak trees and host a 50-foot lap pool and a separate spa beside a minimalist pool house with a kitchenette and an open-air bath. There's also a carport that can accommodate up to three vehicles.
Photographed by famed photographer Julius Shulman and named to a Top 10 list of best Southern California homes by an expert panel created by the Los Angeles Times in 2008, the dwelling has garnered significant praise from architecture critics. In fact, Stephen Kanner, former president of L.A.'s A+D Architecture and Design Museum, said it just "may be the greatest house in Southern California."
Click here for more photos of the Pacific Palisades residence.
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