A 9,000-square-foot canyon residence that won the AIA National Award for Architecture, then disappeared behind its trees. The architect, the awards, and the spelling nobody gets right.
The Schulman House at 645 Tuallitan Road in Brentwood is a 9,000-square-foot residence by Steven Ehrlich, FAIA, completed in 1992 for the screenwriter Tom Schulman. It won the 1997 AIA National Award for Architecture and is named for its client, not the photographer Julius Shulman.
Some architect-designed houses in Los Angeles are famous for their location. Some are famous for the photographs. The Schulman House is famous because it won nearly every award the profession gives, and then did what the best Brentwood houses do: it became somebody's home and settled in behind its canyon trees, where it has been quietly ever since.
Debbie Pisaro has spent 24 years as an architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles, representing buyers and sellers of the houses where the name on the drawings is part of the asset. When a building of this calibre sits in a neighbourhood most people file under traditional luxury, it is worth documenting, because Brentwood's architectural inventory is better than its reputation and almost nobody is writing about it.
Schulman or Shulman? They are different people
Start here, because it trips up nearly every search on this house. The Schulman House is named for its client, the screenwriter Tom Schulman, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Dead Poets Society in 1990 and commissioned the house the year before. Julius Shulman, spelled without the c, was the architectural photographer who shot several of Ehrlich's early projects, including the Kalfus Guest House that first put the practice on the map.
Two different men, two different spellings, one architect connecting them. The confusion is compounded because Shulman photographed Ehrlich and Schulman commissioned Ehrlich, so both names sit legitimately in the same career. If you are researching this house, search Schulman with the c and Tuallitan Road together, and you will stop landing on photography archives.
Who is Steven Ehrlich?
Steven Ehrlich, FAIA and RIBA, was born in New York City on June 12, 1946 and raised in Radburn, in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1969. What he did next set the course of everything after, and it is the reason his buildings do not look like anyone else's.
He spent six years in Africa. Two of them as a Peace Corps architect posted to Marrakesh, then travelling across the Sahara, then teaching architecture at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. He was studying how cultures build shelter in response to climate, material and community rather than to style, and he came back with a method rather than a look.
He brought it to Venice, California in 1979 and opened a small residential studio. The Kalfus Guest House, photographed by Julius Shulman and published on the cover of the New York Times Home section, established him immediately. The practice grew into what is now Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, based in Culver City, with a portfolio spanning houses, courthouses, libraries, university buildings and corporate headquarters. The firm won the AIA California Council Firm Award in 2003 and the AIA National Firm Award in 2015. Ehrlich himself holds the AIA Los Angeles Gold Medal and the AIA California Maybeck Award. For the full arc, see the Steven Ehrlich architect profile.
The AIA Los Angeles Gold Medal is a chapter honour. It is not the national AIA Gold Medal, which Ehrlich has not received. Both get written the same way in listing copy, and a buyer paying an attribution premium is paying for a record that holds up under checking.
Debbie writes All Things Architectural on California houses, market notes and new profiles, by email.
Join the list or call (310) 362-6429The Schulman House, a canyon masterpiece
The Schulman House is the building where everything Ehrlich had been developing since Morocco came together. Commissioned in 1989 and completed in 1992 on a canyon lot at 645 Tuallitan Road in Brentwood, it runs to roughly 9,000 square feet organised as two two-story wings that follow the curve of the topography rather than fighting it.
The siting is the first thing anyone notices. Ehrlich set the house into the hillside so that it occupies the canyon rather than dominating it. Three slopes define a large informal yard, and the building blends into the contours and the existing planting in a way most Brentwood houses do not attempt. An underground garage removes cars from the experience entirely, which sounds like a small move and is not: it means the arrival sequence is architecture and terrain and nothing else.
The design pays deliberate attention to early California modernism, the horizontal reach, the natural material palette, the refusal to compete with the landscape, without quoting it. That is what the method produces. As the firm describes the project, the house bonds with its landscape rather than imposing on it.
The awards confirmed what the design community already knew. Per the firm's project record, the house received the 1997 AIA National Award for Architecture, the 1995 AIA California Council Merit Award, the 1995 Sunset and AIA Western Home Award, the 1994 Los Angeles Business Council Architecture Award and the 1992 AIA Los Angeles Honor Award, and it was published in Architectural Digest in 1993. Very few residential buildings in Los Angeles carry that record, and fewer still carry it this quietly.
What is multicultural modernism?
Ehrlich's term sounds academic and in practice it produces buildings that feel unmistakably of their place. The premise is simple: architecture should answer to the culture, climate and landscape of its site rather than to a style imported from somewhere else. It is a method, not a look, which is why his houses do not resemble each other the way a signature architect's usually do.
At the Schulman House that means a building shaped by its canyon, by the slope and the light and the way Southern California air moves through a plan that is open on the private side. In his Venice work it means houses that engage the density of the walk streets. Every project starts with the same question: what does this place require?
For buyers this matters more than it sounds. Multicultural modernism produces buildings that are irreducibly tied to their sites. You could not lift the Schulman House and set it down in Hancock Park; it would stop making sense. That site-specificity is exactly what separates a significant architectural home from a well-designed one, and it is the thing the market has been steadily learning to pay for.
The best houses often sell quietly, before they ever reach the open market.
Ask about pocket listingsBrentwood is an underrated architectural market
Brentwood is known as a luxury residential neighbourhood: high-end traditional houses, excellent schools, Westside proximity. What it is not known for, unfairly, is its modern inventory, and the roster is genuinely strong.
Richard Neutra built some of his most important residential work here, including the Nesbitt House on Avondale Avenue. A. Quincy Jones designed much of the Crestwood Hills enclave in Brentwood, Craig Ellwood worked the same canyons, Ray Kappe built across the Los Angeles hillsides, and Ehrlich's Schulman House stands as one of the most awarded contemporary residences anywhere in the city. Buyers who default to the Hollywood Hills or Trousdale Estates when they search for architect-designed homes are skipping a market with comparable canyon privacy, better schools and less competition for the good houses.
What that actually means for price
Here is the honest frame, with one dated anchor rather than a stack of numbers that expire. Los Angeles County's median existing single-family home sold for $879,900 in the second quarter of 2026, per the California Association of Realtors, with 17 percent of county households able to afford it. Brentwood trades at a substantial multiple of that, and the specific multiple moves with the quarter, so the useful thing is not the figure. It is what the figure cannot tell you.
An award-winning, named-architect house with a documented publication history does not trade like a comparable spec house, and it does not trade on price per square foot at all. Provenance, meaning the architect, the AIA record and the design intent, supports both value and demand, because the pool of buyers who specifically want a Steven Ehrlich is small, motivated and willing to compete. That pool is also national rather than local, which is precisely why neighbourhood comparables mislead. Pricing a one-of-a-kind architectural home correctly means understanding the architecture as well as the sales, and it means declining to publish a number on somebody else's private house, which is why you will not find one here.
An architect-designed home is not valued on square footage. The name on the drawings, the awards and the publication history are part of the asset, and they need an agent who can document and defend them to a buyer's appraiser as well as to the buyer.
Representation for architectural homes
Debbie Pisaro has sold architectural, historic and design-forward homes in Los Angeles for 24 years. Knowing what makes a building significant, the architect, the awards, the method, and how those translate into value, is inseparable from representing these properties well, because the argument for the price is the argument for the architecture.
Buyers searching for an architect-designed home in Brentwood, a Gregory Ain on the eastside, or any significant residence in Los Angeles can start a conversation with Debbie Pisaro at Coastline 840. She is a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader and among the names buyers and sellers weigh when they look for the best Los Angeles historic and architectural real estate agent. The same design literacy that documents a Brentwood canyon residence applies to a Valley landmark like the Basin Residence in Studio City, and the wider record sits across her iconic Los Angeles houses coverage. Owners searching for an architectural real estate agent in Los Angeles, and out-of-area agents with a buyer who appreciates this level of architecture, will find she works collaboratively and respects the relationship; the terms are on the architectural homes specialist page.
Who designed the Schulman House?
Steven Ehrlich, FAIA, designed the Schulman House at 645 Tuallitan Road in Brentwood, Los Angeles, completed in 1992. Ehrlich is the founding partner of Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, based in Culver City, California, a practice he began in Venice in 1979.
Who is Steven Ehrlich?
An American architect, FAIA and RIBA, born in New York City in 1946 and raised in New Jersey. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1969, then spent six years in Africa studying indigenous building. He founded his practice in Venice in 1979 and coined the term multicultural modernism.
Who was the Schulman House built for?
The screenwriter Tom Schulman, who commissioned it in 1989, the year after he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Dead Poets Society. The house is named for its client and is unrelated to the architectural photographer Julius Shulman, who spells his surname without the c and photographed several Ehrlich projects.
Is it the Schulman or Shulman House?
Schulman, with a c, after the client Tom Schulman. Julius Shulman, without the c, was the photographer who shot Ehrlich's early Kalfus Guest House. Both names sit legitimately in the same career, which is why the confusion persists. Searching Schulman together with Tuallitan Road will get you the house rather than a photography archive.
What awards has the Schulman House won?
Per the firm's project record, the 1997 AIA National Award for Architecture, the 1995 AIA California Council Merit Award, the 1995 Sunset and AIA Western Home Award, the 1994 Los Angeles Business Council Architecture Award and the 1992 AIA Los Angeles Honor Award. It was also published in Architectural Digest in 1993. Very few Los Angeles houses carry that record.
What is multicultural modernism?
Steven Ehrlich's term for architecture grounded in the culture, climate and landscape of a specific site rather than an imported style. It grew from six years studying indigenous building across North and West Africa. It is a method rather than a look, which is why his buildings do not resemble one another.
What other architects built in Brentwood?
Richard Neutra built several important residences here, including the Nesbitt House on Avondale Avenue. A. Quincy Jones designed much of the Crestwood Hills enclave, and Craig Ellwood worked the same canyons. Together with Ehrlich's Schulman House, they make Brentwood a quietly significant market for architect-designed homes that most buyers overlook.
What do Brentwood homes cost?
Brentwood trades at a substantial multiple of the county. Los Angeles County's median existing single-family home sold for $879,900 in the second quarter of 2026 per the California Association of Realtors, with 17 percent of households able to afford it. A named-architect house is not priced against either figure, because its buyer pool is national rather than local.
Are Ehrlich homes ever for sale?
Rarely. Most owners hold long term, which is itself a signal about the houses. His residential portfolio spans Brentwood, Venice and other Los Angeles neighbourhoods. Debbie Pisaro at Coastline 840 tracks architect-designed listings across the city and can notify qualified buyers when an Ehrlich property becomes available, including before it reaches the open market.
Who is a good architectural real estate agent in Brentwood?
Debbie Pisaro, California DRE #01369110, is a 24-year veteran and 2025 Inman Luxury Leader specializing in architectural, historic and design-forward homes, including Brentwood. She is the founder of Coastline 840, an independent California brokerage, and works collaboratively with out-of-area agents referring buyers who understand this level of architecture.
Coastline 840 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90026 · DRE #01369110
Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects and the firm's Schulman Residence project record for the 1989 commission, the 1992 completion, the roughly 9,000 square feet, the two-wing plan and the award list. Published biography of Steven Ehrlich for the June 1946 birth in New York City, the New Jersey upbringing, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute degree in 1969, the Peace Corps posting to Marrakesh, the teaching at Ahmadu Bello University, the 1979 Venice practice, the 2003 AIA California Council Firm Award and the 2015 AIA National Firm Award. UC Santa Barbara for the professional archive donated in 2024. California Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index, second quarter 2026, released August 5, for the Los Angeles County median and affordability share. The Maybeck Award year is stated inconsistently across sources and is therefore given without one. This is a private residence and is not open to the public.
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, an independent California brokerage, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic and design-forward homes. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com and coastline840.com. Updated August 2026.
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.
© 2026 Debbie Pisaro, Coastline 840 · ontheregister.com
