The Stanley J. and Joan Strimling Residence is a 1964 Ray Kappe mid-century modern home at 17269 Oak View Drive in Encino, California 91316. It is one of a small number of documented Kappe houses in the San Fernando Valley, built during the decade Kappe was carrying his post-and-beam, indoor-outdoor language across Southern California hillsides.
A Ray Kappe on the Valley side of the hill is a rarer find than most buyers realize. The house Kappe built for Stanley and Joan Strimling in 1964 is one of the documented few.
Mid-century modern homes in Encino for sale are usually tract-built, well-kept, and unattributed. The house at 17269 Oak View Drive is something else: a documented Ray Kappe. The USModernist Kappe catalogue records it as the Stanley J. and Joan Strimling Residence, built in 1964, on the San Fernando Valley side of the hill Kappe worked most often from the Palisades and Brentwood side. The beauty of this house is the house, but it is also the grounds: Encino has big lots and views and sits close to the Westside, and there is a reason people call it the Beverly Hills of the Valley. This is the record an architectural real estate agent Los Angeles buyers and sellers rely on should keep of a house like that, so here it is.
Is there a Ray Kappe house in Encino?
Yes, at 17269 Oak View Drive, and it is one of only a handful of Kappe commissions documented on the Valley side of the hills rather than in the canyons west of the 405 where most of his best-known work sits. Built in 1964 for Stanley and Joan Strimling, the house carries the same post-and-beam vocabulary Kappe was refining across Southern California in that decade: exposed structure, natural materials, and glass used to erase the line between a room and the ground outside it.
Kappe's Valley-side commissions are genuinely scarce. The bulk of his documented catalogue sits in Rustic Canyon, Brentwood, and the hills above Hollywood; a confirmed Encino address is a different kind of find, and one most buyers searching mid century modern homes Encino for sale would never know to look for by name. Debbie Pisaro documents the house as part of her Kappe registry for exactly that reason: a Kappe in the Encino hills does not announce itself the way a landmark in the Palisades does.
Who was Ray Kappe?
Ray Kappe (1927 to 2019) founded SCI-Arc in 1972, chaired the architecture program he founded at Cal Poly Pomona before that, and designed more than one hundred residences that taught Los Angeles a warmer way to be modern. His full story runs through Debbie's profile of Ray Kappe, the architect.
Within that story, the Strimling Residence sits alongside three other documented Kappe homes in the registry: the Kappe Residence in Pacific Palisades, his own 1967 masterpiece and Historic-Cultural Monument 623; the Davis House on Angelo Drive, an early 1958 commission in Beverly Hills; and the Tempo House in the Hollywood Hills, the 1959 Clemmons residence. Together the four anchor Kappe's chapter in the architects guide and the architectural homes registry.
What makes a Kappe in the Encino hills different?
Most of Kappe's celebrated work sits on canyon lots west of the 405, in the Palisades and Brentwood. The Strimling Residence carries the same hillside language over the ridge into the Encino hills, where the lots run larger and the views open out over the Valley. Here the house is only half the story. The grounds are the other half, and Kappe's glass and indoor-outdoor planning were made for exactly that kind of site.
For a buyer or seller, that changes what to look for: original post-and-beam structure, natural materials kept intact, and the glass and site relationships that tie the house to its grounds and its view. Reading which is which, and pricing on architect and integrity rather than a per-foot average, is the discipline in Debbie's guide to pricing an architectural home, and the quiet channels where houses like this actually change hands are explained in pocket listings and off-market homes.
Buying or selling architectural modernism in the San Fernando Valley
A documented architect's home asks for the same care in Encino as it does in the Palisades: verified attribution, an honest read of what survives, and presentation to the specific pool of buyers who search by architect rather than by street. That is the work described on the architectural homes specialist page. Those buyers shop statewide, from the Valley north through Santa Barbara and Ojai and out to the desert, which is why Debbie Pisaro's practice runs the length of California rather than stopping at a single market.
Debbie Pisaro is not the listing agent for 17269 Oak View Drive. She represents buyers on architectural homes across the San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles, regardless of who holds a given listing, the same standing practice whether a home is on or off market. This profile is a registry record of a documented Kappe house and not a representation of its availability.
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. Coastline 840 is a boutique California practice built for homes that do not fit a template, a brand of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, responsible broker, for the reasons on the record in why we built Coastline 840 and why boutique teams outperform big-box brokerages. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market, and the wider record lives at debbiepisaro.com.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Strimling Residence?
At 17269 Oak View Drive in Encino, California 91316, on the San Fernando Valley side of the hills Ray Kappe worked from most often. It is one of only a small number of his documented commissions in the Encino hills rather than in the Westside canyons most associated with his name.
Are there mid century modern homes for sale in Encino?
Yes, Encino has a real mid-century modern housing stock, and most of it is unattributed tract construction. A documented architect's home like the Strimling Residence is the exception rather than the rule, which is exactly why attribution matters before anyone prices or markets one.
Who designed the house at 17269 Oak View Drive?
Ray Kappe, the architect who later founded SCI-Arc, designed it in 1964 for Stanley and Joan Strimling. It is one of four Kappe homes documented in Debbie Pisaro's registry, and one of the few confirmed on the Valley side of the hills rather than in a Westside canyon.
Why is it called the Strimling Residence?
Because Stanley J. and Joan Strimling were the clients Ray Kappe designed it for, and the USModernist Kappe catalogue records it under their name. Architectural houses are indexed by their original clients, so a house searched only by its street address can be missed entirely by anyone looking for the architect's work.
What does a Kappe home look like?
Post-and-beam structure with the beams left exposed, natural materials like redwood and stone, walls of glass, generous skylights, and plans that open room to room and out to the land. A Kappe feels warm and calm rather than austere, which is a large part of why his houses hold their owners for decades.
How is a Kappe in the Encino hills different from his Westside houses?
The language is the same: honest post-and-beam structure, natural materials, and walls of glass. What changes is the setting. Encino's hillside lots run larger than most Westside canyon lots, with views over the Valley, so the grounds carry as much of the appeal as the architecture does.
What makes an original Ray Kappe home valuable?
Authorship, scarcity, and integrity. Kappe designed a finite number of houses and they rarely trade, so the market pays for documented originals. A house that keeps its post-and-beam structure, its glass, and its plan carries the full weight of the name; one remodeled past recognition carries only its address.
Which other Kappe homes are documented in the registry?
Three more: the Davis House on Angelo Drive in Beverly Hills, an early 1958 work; the Tempo House in the Hollywood Hills, the 1959 Clemmons residence; and the Kappe Residence in Pacific Palisades, the architect's own 1967 landmark home. Each profile links back to the Ray Kappe architect page, and the cluster grows as more homes are confirmed.
Who is a good real estate agent for architectural homes in the San Fernando Valley?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader representing buyers and sellers of architectural and design-forward homes across the San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles. She documents architect provenance before a sign ever goes up, and many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. DRE #01369110.
Coastline 840 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90026 · DRE #01369110
A brand of Side, Inc. · CA DRE #02014153, responsible broker
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 brand of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, responsible broker. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com, and coastline840.com. Published October 2026.
The Ray Kappe attribution and the Stanley J. and Joan Strimling Residence name follow the USModernist Ray Kappe catalogue, which records 17269 Oak View Drive, Encino, under that name with a 1964 build year. Career facts for Ray Kappe follow the documented record cited on the registry's architect profile. This profile is a registry record, not a representation of availability or of any involvement by Debbie Pisaro in a transaction, and all figures should be verified independently. Interior size, room count, and lot dimensions are not stated here because they could not be confirmed to a primary source at the time of writing; add them once verified.
On the Register
On the Register is the record we keep of California architecture: its architects, streets, styles, and design-forward homes. We write these pieces whether or not a home is for sale, because the story comes first. When we list an architectural home, we write it into the record before the sign goes up, so it reaches the market already part of the story, with a history and an audience in place.
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