Jeffrey Hyland - Author
Jeffrey Hyland (July 1, 1947 - Feb 16, 2022)
Jeffrey Hyland was President and co-Founder of Hilton & Hyland, a luxury real estate brokerage firm in Beverly Hills, California, and is the author of The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills (2008), a comprehensive history of 50 famed estates in Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, and Bel-Air.
He was the founder of Forbes Global Properties, the exclusive worldwide real estate partner of Forbes and also served as President of the Beverly Hills Board of Realtors, President of the Los Angeles County Boards of Real Estate, and State Director for the California Association of Realtors.
An architectural historian, Jeffrey Hyland assisted in the publication of Paul Williams, A Legacy of Style by Karen Hudson and David Gebhard and Wallace Neff, 1895-1982: The Romance of Regional Architecture by Wallace Neff, Jr. He also co-authored the book The Estates of Beverly Hills (1984).
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Hyland admired and studied these estates almost all of his life. "I recognized the need for a truly definitive book on the subject that would allow me to share my knowledge and passion for these homes with other people," said Hyland.
"I had four goals when I set out to write The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills," he continued. "First, the book had to have accurate and in-depth historical and contemporary information about each property. For nearly three years, gifted doctoral students from UCLA and Columbia University helped me with that research. The book includes a general bibliography and list of reference sources for each property."
"Second, I wanted to cover the full range of properties, from the early 20th century to the early 21st century," he added. "While the 1920s and 1930s were the decades of extraordinary estate construction, a few remarkable homes were also built in the 1940s and 1950s, and striking new homes have been completed in recent years."
"Third, I wanted to tell the full story of each estate, not just provide a listing of their architectural features," he continued. "The book's histories of Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, and Bel-Air 'set the stage' for the estates in these neighborhoods. Additional historical information is provided in the chapters about the individual estates, along with details about each estate's design and construction. I also delve into the often-fascinating lives of the residents of these prized properties, from their passionate involvement in the design of their estates to their larger-than-life activities and entertainments, their intrigues, and sometimes their tragedies."
"Finally," he concluded, "I wanted the book to be attractive and elegant, just like the estates themselves, with the finest contemporary and historical photographs available. In other words, I wanted this book to be as pleasurable to glance through casually as it is to read from start to finish."
Hyland passed away in February 2022 following a long battle with cancer.
