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John Lautner’s Wolff Residence returns to market asking $6.5M

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The angular fortress above the Sunset Strip was built in 1961

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 852, the Marco Wolff House
Photos by Darwin Nercesian, courtesy of George Salazar and Tilsia Acosta/Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties

Now up for grabs in the Hollywood Hills West is John Lautner’s Wolff Residence. Built in 1961, the home was commissioned by interior decorator Marco Wolff, Jr., who asked the visionary architect and former Taliesin Fellow to design him something in the spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.

Composed of stone, glass, and copper, the 1,664-square-foot residence descends along its hillside lot in a series of juxtaposed rectangles. On the home’s top floor, wrapped by two 16-foot walls of glass, is the impressive living room, as well as the dining room and modernized kitchen. A dramatic stone-and-wood staircase twists like a strand of DNA down a level to the master bedroom suite, which features walls of stone, glass, and treaded wood. On the bottom level, hovering two stories above the street, is a black-bottomed swimming pool and sun deck.

A copper-lined roof connects the main house with the adjoining guest house. Added by Lautner in 1963, it holds three bedrooms and two full baths.

Designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2006, the Wolff Residence’s past owners include actor Vincent Gallo and trophy home collector Michael LaFetra. Last sold in 2008 for $5.55 million, it’s cycled on and off the market a number of times during the past decade, with a price tag as high as $8 million.

This time around, the landmarked home is venturing out with an asking price of $6.5 million. George Salazar and Tilsia Acosta of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties hold the listing.

A set of glass doors 16 feet high open from the living room to a cantilevered deck with built-in seating.
A stone-and-wood spiral staircase connects the upper and middle levels.
In the master bedroom, stone and treaded wood provide striking textural contrast.
The remodeled Bulthaup kitchen.
Concrete and caissons anchor the three-story home into its steep hillside lot.