On with the new for Italian Revival

Marion Riley bought this Italian Revival-style house 15 months ago. She had restored three other historic houses. At first she wasn’t sure if she wanted to redo the San Marino house and then move into it or if she wanted to fix it up and sell it. She soon decided not to occupy the home, restoring it instead as a labor of love.

About this house: Riley, who has a business background but is not an architect or a real estate agent, recognized the value of the history of the house, and that prompted her to take care in its restoration while updating the electrical and plumbing and installing such new systems as security, audio-video and high-speed Internet connections.

It was designed in 1931 by Beverly Hills architect Robert Finkelhor, who graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology school of architecture. He received the Beaux Arts award from the Beaux Arts Institute of Design. The home’s first residents are believed to have been Conrad Troll, president of the San Rafael Investment Co., and his wife. They bought the house in 1933. Myford Irvine, grandson of the founder of the Irvine Ranch in Orange County, bought the property in 1949.

The house is eligible for inclusion on the California Inventory of Historical Resources thanks to “its association with a locally significant architect, its good state of preservation and its contribution to the architectural and historical context of its San Marino neighborhood,� according to Tim Gregory, local building biographer and historian.

Asking price: $4.8 million

Size: There are five bedrooms and five baths in 7,017 square feet. The house is on about two-thirds of an acre.

Features: The home also has several half-bathrooms, including one in a turret, and a library, great room, breakfast room, master suite with balcony, workroom and basement. The grounds have a pool and spa, a partially enclosed summer room with stone fireplace and a pool house. A circular driveway and a fountain complement the front garden, and there is a three-car attached garage.

Where: San Marino

Listing agent: Sarah N. Rogers, Coldwell Banker Previews, Old Pasadena office, (626) 568-7256

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, please send color interior and exterior photos (copies only; we cannot return the pictures) and a brief description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; or e-mail [email protected].