Craig Ellwood's “Beauty of the House of Steel” in Brentwood's Crestwood Hills | 1515 N Tigertail

March 25th, 2026 by thehollywoodhome

Craig Ellwood’s “Beauty of the House of Steel” in Brentwood’s Crestwood Hills | 1515 N Tigertail

Brentwood, Crestwood Hills, Homes, Homes for Sale 90049 ADU Case Study Craig Ellwood Historic Designation Houses for Sale Luxury Mid-Century Modern Mills Act Pool Real Estate No Comments

Few architects captured the taut elegance of postwar Los Angeles quite like Craig Ellwood. A self-taught designer with a gift for proportion and a fascination with industrial materials, Ellwood emerged as one of the defining figures of the Case Study Houses program, the ambitious and now-legendary experiment in modern living sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine.

1515 N Tigertail
Los Angeles, CA 90049

$6,295,000 | 3 Beds | 2.5 Baths | 1,926 Sq. Ft. | $3,268 Price/Sq.Ft. | 0.27 Acres | Built in 1953

His work distilled the ethos of the era into something precise and tensile, where steel frames replaced load-bearing walls and glass dissolved the boundary between interior and landscape. Ellwood’s houses, particularly those perched along the hillsides of Los Angeles, achieved a kind of structural lyricism. They appear to hover, their disciplined grids and exposed frameworks expressing both logic and lightness. Though often compared to peers like Pierre Koenig, Ellwood’s sensibility was cooler, more exacting, less interested in spectacle than in the quiet authority of proportion and detail.

That sensibility found a natural setting in Crestwood Hills, a neighborhood in Brentwood with a history as compelling as its architecture. Conceived in the late 1940s as a cooperative enclave for progressive, largely Jewish families, the community was shaped by ideals of affordability, modern design, and shared intellectual life.

Architects associated with the cooperative, including figures connected to the Case Study program, contributed to a cohesive visual language of low-slung forms, open plans, and an embrace of the surrounding chaparral landscape. The area endured the devastation of a wildfire in 1961, an event that erased much of its original fabric, yet what remains carries a palpable sense of continuity. Crestwood Hills today is both rarefied and deeply rooted, a place where architectural experimentation and social history intersect along winding roads above the city.

At the crest of Tigertail Road stands the incredible Byron Lamar Johnson House, completed in 1953, the third in Ellwood’s series of steel hillside residences.

Slender steel columns and wooden beams establish a crisp modular frame that extends outward from the slope, creating the illusion of suspension.

This formal discipline allows the house to engage the landscape on its own terms, with expansive glazing that frames a shifting panorama.

By day, the horizon stretches toward the Pacific, with Catalina Island faintly visible beyond the ocean line. By night, the city below becomes a field of light, flickering beneath the cantilevered living spaces.

The house has undergone a restoration that respects Ellwood’s original intent while integrating contemporary systems with precision.

Seismic upgrades reinforce the steel structure without compromising its visual lightness.

Terrazzo floors extend across the interior, their smooth continuity echoing the measured geometry of the frame.

Even the infrastructural elements have been reconsidered. Solar panels, Tesla Powerwall storage, a new roof with a rooftop sprinkler system, and updated sewer and gas lines position the house firmly in the present, while a restored gas and wood-burning fireplace anchors it in its original moment.

Fixtures and materials have been selected with a curatorial eye, from Waterworks fittings to Lutron lighting systems and Fleetwood glazing, all aligned with the house’s disciplined palette.

The kitchen incorporates Gaggenau, Wolf, and Sub-Zero appliances, discreetly embedded within the architectural order rather than calling attention to themselves.

The grounds continue the architectural narrative, where an outdoor kitchen with a Lynx barbecue and pizza oven meets a lawn punctuated by period-appropriate chaise lounges.

Skylights draw in measured shafts of light, while motorized shades and whole-house automation systems operate with near invisibility.

primary suite is defined by walls of glass that draw the landscape inward, paired with rich wood paneling and finely integrated built-ins that underscore Ellwood’s emphasis on order and material clarity.

The views are expansive and uninterrupted, shifting with the light throughout the day. Guest bedrooms carry forward the mid-century vocabulary, each animated by strong natural light and a sense of quiet proportion.

The bathrooms have been newly executed with a careful hand, their finishes and detailing calibrated to reflect the spirit and restraint of the home’s original era.

The property spans across two addresses, with the main residence offering three bedrooms and a series of spaces that maintain a direct relationship to the outdoors.

A newly constructed accessory dwelling introduces an additional suite with a full bath and kitchen, positioned in dialogue with the pool.

The ADU introduces a playful note with its confident use of yellow, a vibrant counterpoint to the home’s otherwise restrained material palette.

Steps away, the Tigertail trailhead leads into the surrounding hills, reinforcing the house’s connection to its terrain, while the commercial rhythms of the Brentwood Country Mart remain close at hand.

Once described by the Los Angeles Examiner as the “Beauty of the House of Steel,” the Byron Lamar Johnson House endures as a major architectural achievement with historic cultural and Mills Act savings potential. Its significance lies not only in its storied authorship, but in the clarity with which it articulates an idea of living that remains as compelling now as it was in 1953.

Interested in purchasing this fantastic home? I would love to get you a private tour of 1515 N Tigertail in Brentwood’s Crestwood Hills. Call me today at (323) 697-3040 or email me at jacqueline.tager@sothebyshomes.com.

Listing provided courtesy of Fielden Junglas, Berkshire Hathaway HomeService.

Jacqueline Tager | DRE# 1476997
jacqueline.tager@sothebyshomes.com | (323) 697-3040
Sotheby’s International Realty – Los Feliz Brokerage
1801 N Hillhurst Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90027

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