Tucked into the tree-lined hills of Thousand Oaks, a 1980s home by the legendary architect Frank Gehry has quietly traded hands for $2.45 million without ever hitting the open market.
Commissioned in 1983 and competed in 1988, the Sirmai-Peterson House, as it’s known, sits almost an hour from downtown LA, and has garnered less attention than some of Gehry’s other residential projects, like his personal Santa Monica residence.
“Nobody knew about this house really,” said listing representative Brian Linder, of Compass. “It was published in the late ’80s, but then the owners have lived in it since then and are just very private people … it was kind of hiding in plain sight out there.”
Gehry designed comparatively few residential projects over the course of his more-than-50-year career — meaning this property is a supremely rare get for the new owner, who couldn’t be identified.
And not only was Gehry’s a career that spanned decades, it was also one that spanned continents. The Pritzker-winning architect, who died in late 2025 at age 96 following a brief respiratory illness, dazzled cities around the world with his flamboyant designs, which famously include eye-catching metallic touches. Among his most famous works: the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain; the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA; and the towering 8 Spruce luxury rental at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan.
But, when it comes to this off-the-radar Thousand Oaks gem, even people who worked in Gehry’s office hadn’t stepped inside.
Its sale unfolded with unusual speed. Linder and his team only learned about the property after a chance encounter with a visiting designer at another listing who put them in touch with the owners.
“Before we even had the photos back, we had an offer that was attractive to the seller and put it under contract with a quick close,” he said.
Architecturally, the house captures a transitional moment in Gehry’s career and style, built after his early modernist training but before the explosive, sculptural forms that defined his global landmarks.
The ceilings are high and the angles are sharp, giving the main spaces a sense of drama. But beneath that, there’s a surprising order to the flow of the space.
“It’s really like a Tuscan village all in one house,” Linder said. “Each room has four walls and a roof and a chimney, and then they’re connected by these walkways and bridges.”
Concrete block walls and smooth stucco give the house a slightly rugged, almost industrial feel, but it’s balanced by exposed Douglas fir ceilings and structural wood details that add warmth above. Underfoot, black stone floors and slate-paved transitions help ground the space, tying together the home’s shifting volumes in a way that still feels cohesive. Much of the home remains remarkably intact, including its unapologetically 1980s finishes, like mint-green and robin’s egg-blue tile in one of the bathrooms.
The layout also reflects the lives of its original owners, who commissioned the home and lived there for decades. The design splits private and shared zones in a way that feels intentional.
“It’s got two primary suites,” Linder said. “The husband had his own bedroom and an office and the wife had a bigger bedroom with a view of the pool and a fireplace.”
Between them: communal living spaces that anchor the home. Across a water feature — complete with a bridge and the sound of a year-round creek — sits detached office space.
“They could go cross the bridge, work in the office and then leave business there and come back across the bridge into the home,” Linder said.
Before the deal closed, the listing team invited members of the press, architecture buffs and fans of Gehry for an open house that drew more than 400 attendees.
“If we don’t show it to the community now, nobody’s ever going to get a chance to get in here ever again,” Linder said.
The post Rare LA home designed by one of the world’s most respected architects sells for $2.45M off-market appeared first on New York Post.
