Jane Fonda’s former home in the Hollywood Hills is now on the market, asking $1.99 million, according to a report by the New York Post. The Mediterranean Revival villa, built in 1932, sits at the end of a tranquil cul-de-sac in Whitley Heights, Hollywood’s first National Register historic district. The idyllic mansion at 2001 Holly Hill Terrace is one of only two homes in the neighbourhood protected by a Los Angeles Conservancy façade easement, according to the listing.
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The home’s past goes well beyond its stucco walls. Jane Fonda lived there for a time while she was married to French film director Roger Vadim. They wed in 1965 and divorced in 1973. Later, she lived in the same house with her second husband, the political activist Tom Hayden, according to LA city planning records. Fonda never owned the house; she rented it.
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Fonda was once surveilled by the CIA while living here
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This Hollywood Hills mansion has seen many phases of Fonda’s life. She had become one of the most visible critics of the Vietnam War, and the government took notice. While living in the house, she came under surveillance by the CIA. The agency famously intercepted and opened her mail. A document declassified in 2018 shows Fonda’s name and the Holly Hill Terrace address on a list of 50 people the agency tracked in 1971. Records from the period also show that the CIA acquired four letters sent to her from the Soviet Union. The agency opened them in secret, according to National Security Archive documents. “That is illegal, and we stopped it in 1973,” then CIA Director William Colby reportedly told President Gerald Ford in 1975.
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Inside the Mediterranean Revival villa
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Whitley Heights has seen plenty of change in a century, but nothing like this. According to the listing, this is “one of the houses that has defined Whitley Heights for a century”. Developer H.J. Whitley built the home as his last project in Whitley Heights. He designed the neighbourhood to look like an Italian hillside village, and it became home to Old Hollywood names. Rudolph Valentino, Bette Davis and Jean Harlow all lived nearby at one point.
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The house has a two-storey veranda, added in 1941, and two entrances. It has five bedrooms and five bathrooms. From Holly Hill Terrace, a grand staircase climbs to the front door. From Grace Avenue, a driver can pull into a two-car garage that opens straight into the house. The steps from there lead to the pool and a garden full of fruit trees.
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The main floor has a living room, a home office and a library. Both the office and the library open onto a patio with canyon views. There is also a formal dining room on this floor, along with a large kitchen with a breakfast nook. This floor also has a bedroom with a small bathroom. Another compact bathroom opens onto the pool deck.
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Upstairs, the primary suite includes a sitting area, its own patio with canyon and treetop views, and a bathroom with a soaking tub, a separate shower and a large wardrobe. Two more bedrooms share a full bathroom. Access is another highlight. The studios, the Hollywood Bowl and Franklin Village are a short drive away, and the freeways to downtown and the Valley are close by.
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The seller is Kathleen Whyte, the daughter of character actors Bryan Clark and Jo Deodato Clark. The couple bought the home in 1985 for $234,180 and lived there for 41 years. The house first hit the market in 2024 at $2.79 million. It is now listed at $1.99 million, about $800,000 less.
