Polito House, Los Angeles: architect, style and history

The Polito House is a steel-and-glass International Style residence designed by Raphael Soriano, FAIA, built in 1938 and completed in 1940 on a street-to-street lot on Queens Road in Hollywood. It's one of only 12 of Soriano's roughly 50 buildings still standing, the rest lost to demolition, earthquakes, and wildfire. Architectural photographer Julius Shulman photographed the house in 1940, and it is individually designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

the building

Sandblasted stair window. A 10-foot-by-20-foot sandblasted window lit the interior stairwell while keeping it private from the street, paired with a continuous band of horizontal steel casement windows, a swimming pool, sunning platforms, and a bridge to terraced gardens.

the style

The house is an early, technically pioneering example of Soriano's steel-and-glass International Style residential work, one of the designs that established him as a major figure of California modernism.

the architect

Raphael Soriano, FAIA, was a major figure of California modernism whose steel-and-glass residential work proved technically pioneering; the Polito House is one of only 12 of his roughly 50 buildings that survive today.

significance

Individually designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, the house was spotlighted in the February 1946 issue of Architectural Record and, following a 2020 renovation by owners Leo Seigal and Maxwell Anderson with designer Jake Arnold, again in the October 2025 issue of Architectural Digest.

nearby

Harpel House #1 0.3 mi · Mid-Century Modern
Garcia House 0.5 mi · Mid-Century Modern · 1962
Foster Carling House 1.2 mi · Mid-Century Modern
Campo de Cahuenga 1.2 mi · Spanish Colonial Revival
Bailey House - Case Study House #21 1.5 mi · Mid-Century Modern · 1959
Storer House 1.5 mi · Mayan Revival

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