new images document a 1967-built masterwork
The Kappe House in Rustic Canyon, California has been listed for sale, bringing newly released photographs of its midcentury interiors into view. Designed in 1967 as the personal residence of architect Ray Kappe — who co-founded SCI-Arc together with Thom Mayne of Morphosis — the house stands as one of Southern California’s most studied works of residential modernism.
Set on a steep, wooded site in Pacific Palisades, the structure hovers above the hillside on a framework of vertical concrete supports and expansive redwood beams. The terrain passes beneath the building to leave the natural landscape largely intact. From the street, a sequence of steps moves upward through mature trees toward a sheltered entry, where the structural grid begins to reveal the logic that guides the entire composition.
image © Cameron Carothers (unless otherwise stated)
a redwood structure of interlocking platforms
Inside Southern California’s Kappe House, listed here, seven split levels extend across 4,157 square feet, with conventional room divisions dissolved in favor of interlocking platforms and sightlines. Movement occurs gradually, with short stair runs linking living areas, bedrooms, and studio spaces. The cumulative experience is shaped by shifts in elevation and perspective.
Redwood ceilings and beams define each level, their tone deepened by time. Walls of glass and large skylights draw in changing light from morning through evening. Sunlight filters through the canopy above, casting shifting patterns across timber surfaces and exposed concrete. The house reads as both disciplined and expressive, a demonstration of what Kappe described as an additive process of design in which each structural decision informs the next.
the Kappe House in Rustic Canyon, California has been listed for sale | image © Matt Beard
total design led by the late architect ray kappe
The main living area occupies a central position, framed by treetop views and furnished with custom pieces designed by Kappe. Built-in seating, cabinetry, and shelving align with the structural rhythm, reinforcing the sense that furniture and architecture belong to the same system. The openness of the plan encourages visual connections between levels, allowing activity on one platform to register across the volume.
Below the main living space, a glass-walled studio overlooks a rock garden. This room once served as both office and creative workspace, underscoring the building’s dual role as home and laboratory. The Kappe House functioned as the architect and SCI-Arc co-founder’s residence and studio for decades, and shaped more than two hundred projects that followed.
the structure rises above the hillside on concrete supports and redwood beams
The primary suite occupies the northeast wing, set apart from a cluster of three additional bedrooms in the southwest wing. This arrangement establishes a measured balance between communal gathering areas and spaces intended for retreat. Circulation routes between wings pass through shared platforms, reinforcing the continuity of the plan.
Outdoor terraces extend the interior sequence. A dramatic cantilevered deck projects into the canyon, offering elevated views across the landscape. A lap pool, spa, sauna, and cabana occupy a lower terrace, forming a secondary zone for recreation and reflection. Each exterior space is conceived as a room in its own right, defined by structure and vegetation rather than enclosure.
seven split levels create interconnected platforms across 4,157 square feet
walls of glass and skylights bring shifting sunlight deep into the interior
a glass walled studio overlooks a landscaped rock garden
custom built-in furniture aligns with the structural framework
the primary suite and secondary bedrooms are arranged in separate wings
project info:
name: Kappe House
architect: Ray Kappe
location: Rustic Canyon, Los Angeles, California
listing: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties
photography: © Cameron Carothers, © Matt Beard
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