NEW ALTITUDE

How Studio Shamshiri's elevated revamp of a midcentury house in Southern California became a dialogue with a 20th-century architectural icon.

- BOOTH MOORE

Part of the great wave of immigrants to Los Angeles before World War II, the Hungarian-born, Viennese-trained architect and interior designer Paul László had a softer take on midcentury modernism that incorporated unexpected color choices, luxurious textures, and a European savoir-faire. Working in Beverly Hills from the 1930s to 1960s, he had a wide-ranging career designing homes for Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Hutton, and Cary Grant, alongside stores for Bullocks Wilshire and Robinson's, hotels and casinos for Howard Hughes, and furniture for Herman Miller.

For Pamela Shamshiri, who cofounded her eponymous L.A.-based studio alongside her brother, Ramin, in 2016, the restoration of a 1957 László beach house in Pacific Palisades presented the opportunity to have an imagined dialogue with one of her 20th-century design heroes. "He had a sense of humor and a lightness while doing serious work," says Shamshiri, who keenly identified with László after reading a 1986 oral history with the designer, aptly titled Designing with Spirit. "That is what I try to do."