People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Or so they say. But that didn’t stop critics from lobbing massive boulders at the 2001 thriller “The Glass House.” Directed by Daniel Sackheim and written by Wesley Strick with a story loosely inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel,” the film sees orphaned teen Ruby Baker (Leelee Sobieski) and her younger brother, Rhett (Trevor Morgan), taken in by their former neighbors, Terrence (Stellan Skarsgård) and Erin Glass (Diane Lane), following the untimely deaths of their parents. While their new living situation is seemingly idyllic at first, with the siblings moving into the couple’s strikingly modern Malibu mansion, things quickly turn sinister as the Glasses go to more and more aggressive lengths to gain control of the hefty $4 million trust fund the kids were left, or, as Terrence refers to it, his “big new personal piggy bank.”
A veritable box office bomb, with Jane Crowther of the BBC calling the film “empty, transparent and characterless” and Paul Tatara of CNN deeming it “a tsunami of hogwash,” “The Glass House” (currently free to stream on Tubi) earned just under $23 million at the box office, a paltry figure that can at least somewhat be attributed to its ill-timed release just three days after the 9/11 attacks. The one good thing the flick does have going for it? The stunning abode at its center, built cliffside and enveloped in towering glass walls, and showcased to sheer perfection onscreen.
And now the singular property, known as both the Cloud House and the Mataja Residence in real life, can be yours! Offered by Meril May of Compass, the five-bedroom, five-bath, 7,500-square-foot pad hit the market just last month for $14,995,000.
Cantilevered into a rocky Malibu bluff at 12815 Yellow Hill Rd., the spectacular structure is the work of Mercer Island-based architect George Daniel Wittman & Hagy Belzberg of Los Angeles’ BA Collective (formerly Belzberg Architects). A true labor of love, the dwelling took a whopping five years to complete, originally commissioned in 1993 by its current owner, Bata Mataja, the founder of The Big American Dream Company, aka The B.A.D., which produces television commercials and print advertisements for automobile makers, as well as customizing and restoring cars. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
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Image Credit: Scott Everts The dwelling’s unique siting on a pristine 32-acre parcel abutting land belonging to the National Park Service primarily led to the prolonged building process, with the Puget Sound Business Journal noting that the architects’ plans “underwent extensive reviews by several agencies, including the county of Ventura, California Coastal Commission, Archaeological Survey Report and others.” Wittman explains, “There was a lot of negotiation with the superintendent of the National Park Service for the Santa Monica Mountains. There were a lot of restrictions that were imposed on the balance of the project and the area where we were building.” As a result, the paper reports, “95 percent of the site remained untouched,” affording an unparalleled level of privacy.
The architects faced several additional challenges, as well, according to the BA Collective website, including “the constraints of building in mountainous undeveloped land with no roads, water or power source” and Mataja’s desire that “a passion for the technological car culture” be incorporated into the design. The auto enthusiast had long envisioned erecting a custom home that would allow him to access his many vehicles without having to set foot outside “in the elements.” Thus, the Cloud House, with its massive glass-encased interior car gallery, was born.
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Image Credit: Scott Everts Completed at a cost of $2.5 million, Wittman and Belzberg certainly delivered on Mataja’s vision. The design had Barry Meguiar, who visited the residence for a 2009 episode of his auto enthusiast series “Car Crazy,” practically drooling as he espoused, “This house, it is the most amazing ‘car guy’ house I’ve ever seen, I have to tell you. I’ve seen a lot of great houses, but this one takes the cake.”
A true auto aficionado’s dream, the vehicle gallery stands as the home’s focal point, a whimsical two-story space teeming with cars, motorcycles, collectibles and all manner of driving-related ephemera.
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Image Credit: Scott Everts But the auto gallery is hardly the only feature that sets the residence apart. An undeniable trophy property, the Cloud House was crafted with a dramatic façade marked by a butterfly roof, exposed steel framing, dynamically angled glass, concrete accents and an outcropping of massive granite boulders that serve as statement pieces throughout.
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Image Credit: Scott Everts As modern as modern gets, the interior is a sleek mesh of shiny textures, concrete slab flooring, sheets of glass and Trombe walls. Boasting an open floor plan, the living spaces include a formal dining room that juts out of the residence’s eastern side and teeters over the glorious landscape below, an expansive living room with a double-sided fireplace, a lounge area and a kitchen complete with tiered marble counters, a central island, glass-fronted hanging cabinetry, a floor-to-ceiling wine fridge and a bevy of stainless appliances.
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Image Credit: Scott Everts Lined with towering glass walls at nearly every point, the abode makes incredible use of its setting, affording 270-degree jetliner views of the adjacent parkland, the verdant Santa Monica mountains and the Pacific Ocean beyond, seamlessly bringing the outside in.
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Image Credit: Scott Everts The sprawling compound also boasts a detached guest house, a saltwater pool and spa, a cactus garden and a motor court with space for a whopping 20 cars. Tucked at the end of a long private road, the residence offers a truly rare and isolated exclusivity, as well, making it the ideal backdrop for “The Glass House.”
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Image Credit: Scott Everts Featured prominently throughout the film, the structure is central to the storyline, almost serving as a main character. Initially a seeming wonderland for Ruby and Rhett, filled with every amenity a teen could desire, the place soon becomes a virtual prison for the two as the Glasses’ malevolent ulterior motives begin to surface.
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Image Credit: Scott Everts Only the exterior of the Cloud House was utilized in the film. Interiors were filmed on a set constructed inside of a soundstage at Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City. Created by production designer Jon Gary Steele, who was also behind the looks of such movies as “Burlesque,” “Death at a Funeral” and “Obsessed,” the studio build bears minimal resemblance to the real thing. Though both are highly modern, the inside of the Cloud House is livelier and splashier than its onscreen counterpart, not to mention far more car-centric, with the décor gleefully embracing Mataja’s vehicular inclinations.