$38M Los Angeles Spec House, Designed by Lenny Kravitz, Pays Homage to Mid-Century Modernism

A hillside mansion off the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles with interiors by rock star-turned-designer Lenny Kravitz has hit the market for $38 million.

The "Fly Away" singer not only led the creative direction of the 10,700-square-foot new construction but also broke in the home by living there for about a month while he finalized the project, said developer Branden Williams.

"What was supposed to be three days turned into a month," Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Williams and partner Rayni Williams run luxury brokerage Williams & Williams Estates in Los Angeles. They worked with Lyons Development and Crest Real Estate to create Stanley House—named after the street it's on.The house came on the market last week.

La La Land’s luxury neighborhoods, particularly Bel Air and Beverly Hills, are awash in lavish spec homes—typically stark white, window-lined behemoths with top-of-the-line security and amenities galore. But Mr. Williams said their idea from the outset was to go a different way by imbuing the home with distinctive, mid-century-inspired architecture.

"We didn’t want another white modern box," Mr. Williams said. "We wanted to create a soul and a vibe to the house, so that people would ask ‘Was it built 40 years ago? Was it built 50 years ago? Or was it built today?’"

The late architect John Lautner, who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright and designed a number of significant Los Angeles-area homes in the 1950s and ’60s, served as the project’s muse.

Lautner’s influence can be seen in the seamless way living spaces blend from indoor to outdoor thanks to continuous glass walls and protruding eaves that hang over the pool—a style he used in the circular Elrod House in Palm Springs and his quirky Sheats Goldstein Residence.

In total, Stanley House has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and a spacious great room that leads out onto the pool and outdoor living area.

It has all of the top details the market has come to expect in spec homes, ranging from a private night club with a full wet bar to a wine cellar and home theater. There are also three 12,000-pound granite stones that were hollowed out and turned into fireplaces.

Though Mr. Williams wanted the home to be more than an amalgamation of luxurious amenities. "We wanted it to be a functional home," he said.

More:New California Spec House on a Large, Flat Lot in Rustic Canyon

To do that, the developers installed radiant heated floors throughout and additional outdoor heaters so that residents can make use of the home’s key indoor-outdoor layout all year round—even when cool desert temperatures drop below 50 degrees fahrenheit.

The home is also laid out in a way that every room, not just the master bedroom and entertainment spaces, takes advantage of the views over Los Angeles.