The Pasinetti House: midcentury house in the hills is lovingly renovated

Restoration architect Aaron Torrence of Design Plus Construction climbs the stairs at the renovated Pasinetti house. The Beverly Hills home was built in 1958 by architect Haralamb Georgescu. Renowned in his native Romania, Georgescu (1908-77) designed dozens of buildings in Southern California, but never gained the same level of fame here as his midcentury contemporaries. Before he fled Communist rule and immigrated to the U.S. in 1947, Georgescu had a successful career; today many of his modernist buildings in Bucharest are landmarks. His Pasinetti house was featured in the influential Arts & Architecture magazine 50 years ago, but the house fell into obscurity until real estate developer Tim Braseth of Willow Glen Partners came upon the property in 2007. Torrence was called in to help with the restoration of the home, which takes its name from its first owner, Italian writer Pier Maria Pasinetti (1913-2006), who taught Italian and comparative literature at UCLA.