Among John Lautner homes for sale in November 2026 is the Florence Polin House, his 1947 design at 3542 Multiview Drive in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, listed at $2,850,000. It has 1,342 square feet on a lot of about 26,612 square feet, held up by a three-point steel truss so no interior wall carries the roof.
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An early Lautner house on a big hillside lot, one of three he held up with a steel truss, and on the market again in 2026.
Most lists of John Lautner homes for sale turn out to be lists of houses that sold years ago, and the early houses come up least of all. In 1947, about a decade after he moved to California, Lautner designed a small house for a client named Florence Polin on a hillside off Cahuenga Pass. The Polin House still stands at 3542 Multiview Drive, and in November 2026 it is listed at $2,850,000.
As an architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles, Debbie Pisaro writes about California houses whether or not they are for sale. This one is for sale now, which makes the record more useful. Below is what the house is, how it is built, what it has sold and rented for before, and what a buyer should check before writing an offer on a Lautner this old.
3542 Multiview Drive, Los Angeles 90068. Listed at $2,850,000, MLS #26106339, by Mortimer Canepa of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties and Nicole Kornhauser of Carolwood Estates. Debbie Pisaro is not the listing agent.
What did Lautner build on Multiview Drive?
The Polin House is small and it is structural. The John Lautner Foundation describes it as one of three Lautner designs that use a three-point steel truss support system, so the house needs no load-bearing walls. The roof rides on the truss, and the walls inside are free to go where the plan wants them.
That is the idea that runs through Lautner's whole career, in a modest version: get the structure out of the way of the room. When the Los Angeles Times featured the house as its Home of the Week in 2011, it described polished concrete floors, long glass walls, city views, a fireplace, and a separate guest suite with its own bedroom, bath, and kitchen. The 2026 listing still calls out the separate guest bedroom and says much of the original architectural character is intact.
The current listing gives two bedrooms and two baths in 1,342 square feet. The 2011 feature counted three bedrooms. The difference may be how the guest suite is counted, or a change since then, and it is one of the first things to ask about.
Where does the Polin House sit in Lautner's career?
Early. John Lautner (1911 to 1994) spent six years with Frank Lloyd Wright as one of the original Taliesin Fellows, from 1933 to 1939, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. USModernist dates his move to California to 1937, while he was still working for Wright. The Polin House came in 1947, one of his early Los Angeles houses.
The houses most people know came later. Silvertop in Silver Lake, the Harpel House in the Hollywood Hills, and the Mauer House in Mount Washington are all on the network, along with the only house Lautner built for himself and the Chemosphere, his 1960 octagon on a single column, a few miles west on Torreyson Drive. The John Lautner architect profile collects the full list, and Debbie Pisaro's architectural homes covers the rest of Los Angeles.
What a house this early shows is the habit before the fame: the truss, the glass, the guest quarters set apart, and a plan that turns the small footprint toward the view. For a buyer, that is what the Lautner name actually buys here. Not size, but an intact early idea by an architect whose later houses are museum pieces.
What else stands on Multiview Drive?
The Polin House has a twin. USModernist says it sits next door to Lautner's Jacobsen House (the site spells it Jacobson), from the same year and very similar. The John Lautner Foundation calls the two similar too. The sources disagree on the Jacobsen address, so check it on the ground before relying on it.
Up the same street are two more names. Richard Neutra's Millard Kaufman Residence at 3574 Multiview Drive is a 1949 post and beam house with a Garrett Eckbo landscape, built for the screenwriter who co-created Mr. Magoo. Rudolph Schindler's Kallis House at 3580 Multiview Drive is a 1946 hillside house and Historic-Cultural Monument No. 860.
Two Lautners, a Neutra, and a Schindler, all designed between 1946 and 1949, on one hillside street above the Cahuenga Pass. Few streets in Los Angeles can say that.
What has the Polin House sold and rented for?
The house has been on the market before. The 2011 Los Angeles Times feature gave an asking price of $1,495,000, and the John Lautner Foundation posted it for sale in September 2011. USModernist records sales in 2004 and 2011. In October 2012 the Foundation listed it for lease at $10,000 a month.
At $2,850,000, the 2026 asking price is about 1.9 times the 2011 ask, for the same 1,342 square feet. Asking prices are not sale prices, and the 2011 closing figure is not in the sources read for this post, so treat the comparison as a direction rather than a return. The figure that matters to a buyer is the $2,124 a square foot, and how that compares with recent sales of other architect-designed houses in the Hollywood Hills.
What should a buyer check before an offer on an early Lautner?
Debbie Pisaro, an architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles, founded Coastline 840, a boutique California practice (why she built it, and why small teams outperform big-box firms). On a house this old and this specific, the questions she asks for a buyer come before the price.
- The permit history, set against the 1947 design: what has been added, closed in, or rebuilt, and whether the bedroom count change since 2011 was permitted.
- A structural engineer's look at the steel truss, since the whole house depends on it and it is nearly eighty years old.
- The survey and lot lines. The 2011 and 2026 lot figures differ by about 400 square feet, and hillside lots can carry easements and odd shapes.
- Hazard and hillside disclosures, including fire hazard zoning, grading, and any retaining wall history.
- Historic status. None of the sources read for this post records a City or National Register designation, so confirm it either way, because it changes what you can alter.
- Occupancy and showing terms, which the listing agents can explain.
The listing frames the house as a chance to preserve and thoughtfully restore it. Read that as a budget line, not a mood. A buyer who wants a Lautner should price the restoration before the offer, ideally with a contractor who has worked on Lautner houses before. Owners thinking about a sale of their own can ask for a home valuation, and owners who prefer a quiet sale can read how pocket listings work.
Debbie Pisaro is not the listing agent for 3542 Multiview Drive. Debbie Pisaro represents buyers on architectural homes across Los Angeles, regardless of who holds a given listing, the same standing practice whether a home is on or off market.
What does the record not settle?
A few things are still open. The neighbor is spelled Jacobsen by the John Lautner Foundation and Wikipedia and Jacobson by USModernist, and the two sites give different street numbers for it. The bedroom count changed between the 2011 feature and the 2026 listing. The lot size differs by about 400 square feet between the two.
The design year is 1947 in every source, and the listing gives 1948 as the year built, which fits a house designed one year and finished the next. Nothing read for this post gives the 2011 sale price.
There are houses you appreciate in photographs, and then there are houses that make more sense when you stand inside them. The Polin House is one of those. Lautner's use of the steel truss, the relationship between the glass and the hillside, and the way the living space opens toward the view are not simply architectural details. They shape the experience of being in the house. At 1,342 square feet, it is a reminder that architectural significance has very little to do with square footage.
Questions about the Polin House
Where is the Polin House?
The Polin House is at 3542 Multiview Drive, Los Angeles, California 90068, in the Hollywood Hills above the Cahuenga Pass. The listing places it in the Sunset Strip and Hollywood Hills West area. Lautner's similar Jacobsen House stands next door, and Neutra's Millard Kaufman Residence and Schindler's Kallis House are up the same street.
When did John Lautner design the Polin House?
John Lautner designed the house for Florence Polin in 1947, according to USModernist, Wikipedia's list of his works, and the 2026 listing. The listing gives 1948 as the year built. It is one of his early Los Angeles houses, and USModernist lists it as standing.
Is the Polin House for sale?
Yes. In November 2026 the Polin House is listed at $2,850,000, MLS #26106339, by Mortimer Canepa of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties and Nicole Kornhauser of Carolwood Estates. The listing describes two bedrooms and two baths in 1,342 square feet on a lot of about 26,612 square feet.
What makes the Polin House structurally unusual?
The John Lautner Foundation says the Polin House is one of three Lautner designs that use a three-point steel truss support system. Because the truss carries the roof, the house needs no load-bearing walls, so the interior walls can sit wherever the plan wants them. A buyer should have a structural engineer review the truss.
What did the Polin House cost in 2011?
A 2011 Los Angeles Times Home of the Week feature gave an asking price of $1,495,000, and the John Lautner Foundation posted it for sale that September. In October 2012 the Foundation listed it for lease at $10,000 a month. The 2026 asking price of $2,850,000 is about 1.9 times the 2011 ask.
How many John Lautner homes are for sale in Los Angeles?
Very few at any one time. Lautner houses are scarce, and owners tend to hold them a long time. When one comes up, it is often a smaller early house like the Polin House rather than a famous later one. A buyer who wants a Lautner should ask an architectural agent to watch for off-market chances too.
What should I check before buying an early Lautner house?
Pull the permit history and compare it with the original design, have a structural engineer review the frame, and confirm the survey and lot lines. Read the hazard and hillside disclosures, and confirm whether the house carries any historic designation, since that changes what you may alter. Price the restoration before you write the offer.
Who is a good architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across Los Angeles and the surrounding neighborhoods. She specializes in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes, and many of the homes she sells never reach the open market.
USModernist, John Lautner house list; John Lautner Foundation, Polin House for Sale (September 28, 2011) and Looking to buy (or lease) a Lautner? (October 17, 2012); list of works by John Lautner; Los Angeles Conservancy, John Lautner; Los Angeles Times, Home of the Week, John Lautner's Polin House (2011); the 2026 MLS listing for 3542 Multiview Drive.
Coastline 840 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90026 · DRE #01369110
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, a boutique California practice, and an Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. Coastline 840 is a DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, responsible broker. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com, and coastline840.com. Published November 2026.
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