If location is the byword of real estate, certitude the shorthand to success, passion the propellant for time spent in dusty archives and at a writer's desk, then it was destiny Jeff Hyland would produce The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills—a comprehensive chronicle of 50 of the most historically, architecturally and sociologically interesting estates in Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills and Bel-Air.
With all the comprehensiveness it implies, produce, rather than merely to write, is the appropriate verb. Published by Rizzoli, the 428-page tome, with 350 color photographs of interiors, grounds and gardens, measures 18.5 x 14 x 2.7 inches and weighs over 12 pounds, much bigger than most newborns. Its gestation was also significantly longer. "For nearly three years, gifted doctoral students from UCLA and Columbia University helped me research," Hyland explains.
as well as Moderne, Mid-century and modern manses. "Between my parents, their friends and my friends, I was in and out of so many of these houses as a kid," says Hyland, noting this was the genesis of his love of architecture: early exposure across a wide range of styles (not to mention colorful personalities).
on Southern California architects Paul Revere Williams and Wallace Neff, as well as co-author the book, The Estates of Beverly Hills. "Well, since I couldn't do math I couldn't be an architect," he says, a dodge to keep from acknowledging, let alone discussing, his achievements.
While Hyland has no interest in speaking about records in residential and commercial sales— not his, those of Hilton & Hyland (the company he founded with Rick Hilton in 1993) or the firm's latest triumph headlined in newspapers the world over (the sale of the 123-room Spelling estate for a record sum), he will crow about the architecture and history of the great, diverse, sometimes imperiled great estates of the city of Los Angeles—or more specifically those that sit, squarely and serenely, in the platinum triangle of Bel-Air, Holmby Hills and Beverly Hills. "Even as a kid, I pretty much knew every street, every house," says Hyland, who, coincidentally (or perhaps not) grew up three blocks away from the Gordon Kaufmann-designed Bing Crosby estate, which was torn down to become the Spelling estate.
Still, it's very different to be an enthusiast or amateur rather than the author of a book that took years of research. "What happened is I realized I knew a lot of information few others did, I had access to a lot of people few others did, and that archival materials, not to mention houses themselves, were disappearing. I realized I had to create this book, and that I alone had the ability, resources and contacts to do so," Hyland explains..
12 no-longer-extant estates are profiled, many of their names— such as Pickfair, the hilltop home of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford, once Hollywood royalty's reigning couple; and Falcon Lair, owned by the silver screen's first heartthrob, Rudolph Valentino—widely recognizable. At the height of Fairbanks' and Pickford's fame, Pickfair was the most famous house in the US save for the White House. A house called "Pickfair" currently exists on the site of the original, but there the similarities end.
But just as these properties were built in the latest fashion, so can fashion be fickle, destructively so. As Hyland explains, after World War II great estates fell from vogue. Considered too expensive to maintain or difficult to run, they also were outside the post-war paradigm of efficiency, simplicity and air-conditioned modernity—as well as the aesthetic juggernaut that was the Mid-Century Modern style (perhaps the death knell for the previous era's Spanish Colonial, Colonial and Tudor Revivals was when Gary Cooper opted for a relatively humble Mid-Century manse in the mid 1950s).
of Beverly Hills is testament to Hyland's passion and tenacity, it's equally indicative of the trust he engenders in these zip codes.