A 1963 home framed and clad in aluminum is still virtually maintenance-free today.

Al and Simone Grossman live in a large, light-filled house perched in the hills overlooking Studio City.

Designed in 1963 by the late Raphael Soriano, it was declared a historic-cultural monument by the city of Los Angeles in 1997.

But more interesting than looks or pedigree is the fact that in the 35 years that the Grossmans have lived there, they have never had to paint anything, inside or out.

They replaced the carpeting in one bedroom, but otherwise have not had to replace or refinish any of the flooring.

What’s the Grossmans’ secret?

Their house is framed with aluminum, and most of the exterior exposed surfaces are aluminum that was either painted in the factory or left with its natural silver color.

The interior walls are finished in micarta, a type of plastic laminate; the floors are terrazzo, and the desks, dressers and display cabinets are built in, so there are fewer places for dust balls to collect.

In fact, the 4,800-square-foothouse is so easy to keep clean that one person does it in one day a week.

This unusual house had unusual beginnings.

Al Grossman, whose companies sold a number of aluminum products, was approached by Soriano, who was promoting aluminum housing and wanted to build a showcase house in Los Angeles.

As Soriano was known for designing modern-styled houses with flat roofs, an open plan and lots of glass, the Grossmans realized his proposal would be a radical departure from their conventional ranch house.

But Al Grossman was intrigued by the idea of having his company’s products displayed on his own house.

Two-thirds of the way through construction, the famously temperamental Soriano walked off the job. But Grossman, who grew up in the roofing and sheet metal business, took over and supervised its completion.

Furniture Still in Use Today

To furnish their new house in time for a charity event, he and his wife in three hours bought all new furniture, which they still use.

Steel-framed construction is a hot topic in the home building industry these days, but what the builders are talking about is not what the Grossmans used.

The home builders use conventional construction and simply substitute steel studs and trusses for wood. The finished houses look like all the others on the block. Not the Grossman’s house.

The entire supportive structure consists of aluminum columns and beams in a 10-by-20-foot grid pattern. Twenty-eight aluminum sliding-glass doors enclose the house.

In the few places where the outside wall is solid, the exterior finish is refrigeration cork, which Grossman said has required only minor repair over the years.

Although many people consider modern-style houses with lots of metal and glass topped with flat roofs to be forbiddingly austere, the Grossmans’ house is quite the opposite.

The columns, inside and out, are purple, and the beams are gold. The roof fascia board, downspouts and some of the aluminum fencing are robin’s egg blue. The plastic laminate walls in the main living area are yellow-green, and the bedrooms and bathrooms are violet, Indian coral, concord blue, white and avocado.

Some of the walls, built-in dressers, desks and cabinets are finished in a simulated rosewood pattern. The kitchen cabinets and counter tops are dark green and light beige.

For someone who wants to build a no-maintenance house today, how feasible is the Grossmans’ unconventional solution?

Definitely doable, but it’s important to use an architect and builder with experience in the type of residential construction used in the Grossman house.

And you would want to use steel instead of aluminum because it’s stronger, cheaper and much easier to find. Yale University professor and architect Peter DeBretteville, who built a steel-frame house for himself when he lived in Los Angeles, said the nature of the material requires much more planning and more detailed construction drawings than conventional wood-frame construction.

“Wood warps, twists and shrinks, but it’s forgiving,” he said. “You can make adjustments up to the last minute and you can invent details in the field.

“But steel-framing members are fabricated in a factory. If you decide that a detail doesn’t look right, you can’t just slap up another 2-by-4 like you can with wood.”

USC professor and architect Pierre Koenig, who has designed more steel-and-glass houses than anyone else in the profession, said that finding a capable builder can be challenging and that owners must be prepared to keep the architect on board for the entire project.

“You’re asking for trouble if the architect just bids out the job and doesn’t supervise the work. He must make sure that all the bids are reasonable. Bidders like a plumber can get scared and add on because it’s a steel house.”

Cost Comparable to Custom Homes

Koenig, who has been designing this type of house for more than 50 years, said that in his experience, the cost for such a house comes in at the low end for custom residential construction in most markets.

Although glass and steel-frame houses were first built in Southern California, with its benign climate and adventurous clients like the Grossmans, Koenig said they are even more appropriate in places with climatic extremes of heat or cold because in such places, standard materials deteriorate rapidly.

Another plus with steel-framed houses is the speed of their construction, Koenig said. The entire frame can be erected and the house enclosed in a day so that a crew can work in any kind of weather.

Koenig said that in Los Angeles, where he lives, the rest of the house can be finished in nine months, less than half the time required for a custom-built conventional wood-framed house today.

If a steel house is an aesthetic or financial impossibility, the plastic laminate walls of the Grossman’s house can be installed with conventional construction.

Theirs were fabricated by a local craftsman, but there are two companies that manufacture laminate-covered wall panels and distribute them nationally: Custom Plastics in Folsom, Calif. ([916] 351-0161 or https://www.customplastics.com,), and Interior Surface Systems in Temple, Texas ([800] 610-9809).

In both cases, the panels are 2 feet wide and 8 to 10 feet high. Although this type of wall system is usually installed in institutional or commercial settings, it can be used in houses. It is usually installed over drywall, but it can be attached directly to the wood studs if they are spaced correctly.

The installed cost varies by region and can range from $3.50 to $9 a square foot. That makes it about three to six times more costly than drywall, but once it’s up, it’s there forever.

Katherine Salant is a syndicated columnist who writes on newly built homes. She can be reached via e-mail at salantques@aol.com.