23685 Clover Trail, Calabasas, CA 91302

• 2 beds |
• 3 baths |
• 1,719 sqft

Property Description

Frank Gehry :: The Benson House. Before Bilbao, Walt Disney Concert Hall and the landmark works that would define his global career, Frank Gehry was already challenging the conventions of domestic architecture on a hillside in the Calabasas Highlands. Completed in 1981, The Benson House belongs to a pivotal chapter in Gehry's early Los Angeles period, when his residential work became a laboratory for the ideas, materials and spatial experiments that would later transform contemporary architecture. Designed for law professor Robert "Bob" Benson, who famously told Gehry, "Whatever you want to do, we will go for," the house emerged from an extraordinary level of creative trust and became one of Gehry's favorite projects and most personal residential works. Set into a slope, the architecture separates from the hillside to create a moat-like negative space, allowing two distinct vertical volumes to emerge. A vertebrae-like wooden walkway connects the bedroom wing with the living and gathering spaces, creating a daily experience of movement, sequence and spatial discovery. Gehry described the composition as "almost touching," like two stones in a Japanese sculpture. Clad in humble asphalt shingles and grounded by concrete floors, exposed rafters and raw material contrasts, the home reflects Gehry's early language of recontextualized vernacular, California modernism and architecture as sculpture. The residence offers two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a loft workspace and panoramic San Fernando Valley views. Located within the Las Virgenes Unified School District (public school system). Sited on four contiguous lots, each with its own APN, The Benson House is Calabasas Historical Landmark No. 2 and an important early Gehry residence archived at the Getty Research Institute. Early Gehry homes rarely come to market, making this a singular opportunity to own a formative work by one of the most influential architects of our time.

Listing Status:

Active

Date Added:

August 20, 2026

Data Last Updated:

September 23, 2026 at 3:08AM

Listing Office:

Compass : 310-652-6285

Listing Agent:

JB An Fung : 323-745-1160

MLS ID:

CL26875015

Interior

• Appliances: Dishwasher
• Laundry: DryerWasherInside
• Flooring: Wood
• A/C: Central Air
• Heating: Central
• Fireplace: Living RoomFireplace

Exterior

• General: Other
• Pool: None
• Parking: Parking spaces: 4

Construction

• General: Multi/Split

Location

• County: Los Angeles

Lot

• Zoning: LCA11*2072016008
• View: CanyonValleyView