Whitley Heights, Los Angeles
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Whitley Heights Historic District
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H.J. Whitley House, 6600 block of Whitley Terrace, Whitley Heights.
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| Location | Hollywood, Los Angeles, California |
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| Coordinates | 34°6′27″N 118°20′3″W / 34.10750°N 118.33417°WCoordinates: 34°6′27″N 118°20′3″W / 34.10750°N 118.33417°W |
| Architect | Barnes,A.S.; et al. |
| Architectural style | Mediterranean Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, American Craftsman |
| NRHP Reference # | 82002189 |
| Added to NRHP | August 19, 1982 |
Whitley Heights is a residential neighborhood and historic preservation overlay zone in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Central Los Angeles, California. Known as a residential area for actors and other people in the motion-picture industry, it is divided between a hillside single-family district and an apartment area. It is notable for an attempt by its homeowners' group and the city to close off public streets to outside traffic, an effort that was ruled illegal by the courts
The preservation zone is split into two parts by the Hollywood Freeway (U.S. Highway 101) running through the Cahuenga Pass. Streets within the zone's northern part are a one-block portion of Cahuenga Boulevard, Iris Drive and some of Whitley Avenue; it consists almost exclusively of single-family homes. The southern zone, about 80% of the original plot, embraces Fairfield Avenue, Wedgewood Place, Whitley Avenue, Cerritos Place, Hollyhill Terrace, Grace Avenue, Emmet Terrace, Las Palmas Avenue and Milner Road and is almost exclusively zoned for apartments. It is within walking distance of the Hollywood Bowl, and Hollywood Boulevard is nearby.
Hobard J. Whitley bought the hillside area in 1901-03 and hired architect Arthur Barnes to build houses in a Mediterranean style which he thought would suit Southern California's climate. Five years later, Whitley Heights was seen as a "magnificent hill of forty acres situated in the very center of Hollywood and overlooking the entire city." On June 30, 1907, a fire kindled by a resident at the foot of the hill swept over the land, which was covered by a heavy growth of wild mustard and barley, and destroyed "many rare and valuable trees and shrubs" that Whitley had planted. It threatened a large reservoir owned by the United Hollywood Water Company atop the rise and burned several tons of hay. The fire was quenched the same day by the volunteer Hollywood fire department headed by E. Fossler. A contemporary account noted that "This hill has been one of the show places of Hollywood for some time. Here Mr. Whitley intends erecting a handsome home at some future date, and toward this end he has cultivated and beautified the grounds, laying them out in winding roads and planting a great variety of rare trees and shrubs, some of which were imported from the Hawaiian Islands and Mexico."
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