Buff Gallery

( Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )

Donna and Robert Grossi stand in the entry stairs to their Pasadena home, dubbed Rapor, or Sun House, by late architect Conrad Buff III, who built it in 1977 for his family. Visitors arrive at a motor court facing a garage and studio, walk up these stairs and find themselves before the main house, backed by the San Gabriel Mountains. A tiled path crosses over the pool, under the shaded loggia and into the house.