Years ago we used to see this term in house rental ads in the South Bay-- The Daily Breeze. I was about 15 at the time and I had no idea what it meant in a house-rental ad context–nor did anyone else in the family.
I took a college drafting course at El Camino, using a textbook titled Technical Drawing (6th Edition), by Giesecke, Miller, Spencer, and Hill. On Page 568 are “warped surfaces” include the “hyperbolic parabaloid.” What does this have to do with renting a house? 
(A real-estate lawyer whose class I took at Camino didn’t know!)
Here.
If by “years ago” you mean 25-35 years ago, it probably had everything to do with those types of structures being all cutting edge (so to speak) and trendy at the time.