A one-bedroom condominium in Ray Kappe's Fredonia Apartments has returned to the market in Studio City. Priced at $565,250, the compact residence offers floor-to-ceiling glass, an open plan and a broad patio inside a building that Los Angeles preservation surveyors identified as a significant work of midcentury design.
A compact home organized around glass and the view
Unit 2 is a single-level residence with one bedroom and one bathroom. The current TheMLS listing syndicated by Redfin gives the interior as 870 square feet and describes an open kitchen flowing into the living area. Floor-to-ceiling windows pull daylight across the space and frame city, hillside and treetop views.
Large sliding doors extend the living room onto an expansive private patio, making the outdoor space part of the home's everyday circulation rather than a decorative appendage. The unit also includes central heating and air conditioning, an in-unit washer and dryer, ceramic-tile floors and one assigned covered parking space. Residents share an association pool and landscaped grounds.
The 12-unit complex, known in current MLS records as Universal Condominiums and historically as the Fredonia Apartments, occupies a roughly 0.61-acre hillside parcel south of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. The property is close to Universal City and the Hollywood Bowl while remaining tucked into a residential hillside pocket.
Why the Fredonia Apartments matter
The architectural story extends beyond the finishes inside this particular unit. Los Angeles' SurveyLA inventory for the Sherman Oaks Studio City Toluca Lake Cahuenga Pass area calls the Fredonia Apartments an excellent example of midcentury-modern residential architecture. The survey singles out the building's unusual curved plan, shaped to accommodate the hillside, and identifies it as the work of master architect Ray Kappe.
That curved response to the terrain helps explain why the architecture still reads clearly from within the units. Rather than treating the slope as an obstacle, the building uses its position to open rooms toward light and long views. In Unit 2, glass walls and the patio make that larger site strategy tangible at a domestic scale.
There is a one-year discrepancy in the available records: the current MLS lists the building as constructed in 1963, while SurveyLA dates the Fredonia Apartments to 1964. Both sources agree on the essential attribution to Kappe and the complex's midcentury provenance.
Ray Kappe's Los Angeles legacy
Kappe was both a prolific residential architect and an influential teacher. He opened his practice in 1954 and later became the founding director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture. SCI-Arc's account of his career credits him with helping establish the experimental school in 1972 and leading it for 15 years.
His houses are celebrated for exposed structure, open spatial sequences and a close relationship to their sites. The Fredonia complex translates those ideas into multifamily housing: its architecture is economical and compact, but it still uses structure, glazing and outdoor space to make the hillside present in daily life.
Earlier Fredonia and Ray Kappe coverage
This is not the first time the Fredonia Apartments have appeared on the SFV Blog. In 2013, the blog covered the sale of Fredonia Apartment No. 9, a larger two-bedroom residence whose tall glass wall framed nighttime Valley views. The following year, Fredonia Apartment No. 6 came to market, offering another look at how Kappe adapted the complex's architecture to different floor plans.
Kappe's broader work in the Valley has also been featured here, including the Strimling Residence in Encino. Readers can browse these stories and other notable buildings on the SFV Blog Development & Architecture page.
Price and listing history
The condo came to market on June 22, 2026, at $595,000. Its price was reduced on July 28 to $565,250, or about $650 per square foot based on the current MLS area. Heidi Sowards and Tracey Becker of Compass hold the listing.
Redfin records show that Unit 2 sold for $625,000 in July 2021 after being offered at $639,000. It previously sold for $530,000 in June 2018. The present asking price is $59,750 below the 2021 sale price, a notable turn for a home with a documented architectural pedigree.
Published area figures vary by source and year. The current MLS reports 870 square feet, the 2021 marketing page reported 831 square feet, and public records shown on Redfin list 765 square feet. Buyers should verify the legally recognized area, HOA obligations and any planned building work directly with the listing agents and association documents.
Street View
Gallery
Sources and Credits
- Redfin listing for 3625 Fredonia Drive, Unit 2 — current asking price, specifications, amenities, listing representation and sale history; accessed August 19, 2026.
- SurveyLA: Sherman Oaks Studio City Toluca Lake Cahuenga Pass Individual Resources — Fredonia Apartments name, 1964 date, architectural attribution and significance.
- SCI-Arc: Farewell to Ray Kappe, Founding Director and Architectural Giant — Kappe's career, practice and role at SCI-Arc.
- Artforum: Raymond Kappe, 1927 2019 — source page for the Ray Kappe portrait used in the hero composite.
- The Agency's archived 2021 listing for Unit 2 — prior sale, earlier area figure and unit features.
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