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‘Treehouse’ in Posh Sherman Oaks, California, Asking $1.6 Million

Frank Lloyd Wright disciple John Lautner designed the wood-clad two-bedroom home in Los Angeles in the 1950s

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A spiraling, two-story ‘treehouse’ built on a hill in posh Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, listed for sale on Tuesday for the first time in its 70-year history, asking $1.6 million.

Frank Lloyd Wright disciple John Lautner—whose private residences are among the most celebrated modern architecture in Southern California—built the two-bedroom house in 1950 for a client named Louise Foster and has since been known by archivists as the Foster House, according to records with the city’s Office of Historic Resources.

The home is modest in size. It spans only 1,200 square feet and the lot occupies a sliver of an acre.

But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in architectural heritage. The circular volume that makes up the main living space is more reminiscent of the experimental homes Wright built in the woods of upstate New York than the spaceship-like concrete mansions with which Lautner is most often associated, according to images from the listing with Compass agent Aaron Kirman of the Aaron Kirman Group. 

“A house of this architectural significance nestled in the streets of Sherman Oaks is extremely rare to find,” Mr. Kirman said. “The Foster House simply reminds us of a treehouse."

The main living room occupies the second floor, topped with a wood-beamed ceiling and curved walls with windows looking out onto a thick of treetops on one side and a half-moon balcony on the other.

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An arm reaching off the circle encompasses the kitchen and large bedrooms. The first floor includes a car port and self-contained bedroom, which offers the next owner an “opportunity for a home office, recording studio or cozy den,” according to the listing agents. 

Though it’s remained in the same hands for decades, the owners have periodically rented the place out, including to “CSI: Miami” actor Rex Linn, who lived at the eccentric home for 20 years, according to a Compass spokesman.