4/19/11
Famous photo house flirts with disaster.
Since I enjoy photographing homes and architecture in general, and reading about great photographers, I thought I’d put together a little background information on one of the most famous house photographs ever taken, the Case Study house #22, (Stahl house). What really made this house famous was Julius Shulman’s 1960 photograph, shown in B&W, inset.
Although the article is not yet finished, I thought I’d share this Google Earth image I came across while doing some research. The larger image below shows the Hollywood hills Stahl house position in relation to the scary results of a typical California landslide, and how close they are; can you imagine if the ground under the Stahl house just gave way, and the whole thing tumbled down the steep hillside? What a loss that would be!
Ironically, Julius Shulman’s own Hollywood hills home suffered extensive damage from a landslide just a couple of miles from this location, before the Stahl house was built. I guess when you build on top of one another like they do in California, eventually you’ll get wiped out, like the dude’s house in this picture.
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| Aerial view of Case study house #22, (Stahl house) made famous by Photographer Julius Shulman |