Meryl Streep once owned a Hollywood Hills home that brought mid-century modern architecture into the spotlight. Built in 1954, the Honnold & Rex Research House combined concrete, wood and expansive glass walls, with a double-height living room and a courtyard featuring a swimming pool and spa. The four-bedroom property reflected a period of architectural experimentation across Southern California. Streep bought the house for $4.5 million in early 2013, but her ownership was brief. In August 2014, she sold it to former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez for $4.8 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Meryl Streep’s Honnold & Rex Research House showcases mid-century modern design
The Honnold & Rex Research House was built during a period when architects in Southern California were experimenting with new ways to approach residential construction. The property was associated with the Case Study programme, an architectural initiative launched in the 1940s that encouraged designers to develop practical, modern homes using emerging building techniques and materials. Its influence extended into the 1950s and 1960s, leaving a distinctive mark on the region’s residential architecture.Rather than relying on traditional decorative features, the Hollywood Hills house drew attention to its construction and layout. Concrete, wood and extensive glazing formed the basis of its design, allowing the materials themselves to remain visible. Large expanses of glass brought daylight into the interiors and connected the living spaces with an outdoor courtyard. The result was a home whose character came from its proportions, surfaces and relationship with the surrounding landscape.
A closer look at Meryl Streep’s home with glass walls, a swimming pool and spa
The residence had approximately 3,700 square feet of interior space, arranged across two floors. Its layout included four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a dining room and a family room. One of its defining features was the double-height living room, where a stone wall extended from floor to ceiling alongside a fireplace.The courtyard provided another focal point. Glass walls opened towards the outdoor space, which contained a swimming pool and spa. This arrangement allowed the garden and water features to become part of the house’s everyday setting rather than remaining separate from the interior.Architectural conservator Xorin Balbes, an earlier owner, had redesigned and reconfigured the property. His work preceded Streep’s ownership and helped shape the version of the house that appeared on the market in 2014. The building retained its mid-century identity while incorporating changes made over the years.
Meryl Streep’s $4.5 million purchase
Streep acquired the Hollywood Hills West property in early 2013 for $4.5 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. At the time, she was already one of Hollywood’s most established actors, with Academy Awards for Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice and The Iron Lady among her major career achievements.Her ownership of the house was relatively brief. In August 2014, the Los Angeles Times reported that she had sold it for $4.8 million to Alex Rodriguez, the former Yankees third baseman. The reported sale price was $300,000 above what Streep had paid, before accounting for transaction costs, taxes or any expenditure on the property.The sale also placed the residence in the hands of another prominent name, this time from professional sport rather than the film industry. Alex Rodriguez played for the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers before joining the New York Yankees in 2004.In January 2014, an independent arbitrator upheld a 162-game suspension that ruled him out for the entire Major League Baseball season and postseason following the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal.
Architectural legacy of Meryl Streep’s former mid-century modern home
The house’s appeal lay in more than its celebrity ownership. Its name connected it to a particular strand of post-war residential experimentation, when architects were reconsidering how homes could be built and how people might use the spaces within them. The combination of solid materials, broad windows and an open relationship with the courtyard reflected those ideas.The 2014 sale brought the Honnold & Rex Research House into the public eye through the property dealings of two well-known figures. Yet its architectural history began decades earlier, with a design rooted in the mid-century movement that helped define modern homes across Los Angeles. Streep’s time there represented a short chapter in the property’s life, while the building itself remained an example of the period’s interest in materials, light and a less conventional approach to domestic space.