Joseph and Sonia Staller House

Joseph and Sonia Staller House

For Joseph and Sonia Staller, Richard Neutra planned a large house with family bedrooms, two rooms for staff, and a three-car garage. Located on a steep slope, the two-story house is set into the hillside behind it. The gabled roof is broken, with a longer roof to the south, while the north receives ambient daylight and a view of the hill. Inside, a double fireplace clad in Texas shellstone separates the library from the living quarters, but both areas open onto a wide terrace that overlooks the pool and reconnects the two spaces. While Joseph Staller traveled to Neutra’s Silverlake offices from Illinois to make plans for the house, Sonia Staller did not join him, so Neutra corresponded with her about her personal preferences, including whether she preferred a seated or standing dressing table.

Adapted from Neutra – Complete Works by Barbara Lamprecht (Taschen, 2000), p. 296.