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W H E N T H E E Y E K N O W S
The Pendleton-Evans Residence
Completed in 1941, the one-story three bedroom 3,900 square-foot residence was built for prominent interior designer and art dealer James Pendleton and his wife Mary Frances at a cost of approximately $20,000. Located north of Sunset Boulevard and accessible from two gated points, 1033 Woodland Drive to the east and 1032 Beverly Drive to the west, the house was designed by master architect and designer John Elgin Woolf primarily known for introducing the Hollywood Regency style to the Beverly Hills area. The Paul Trousdale residence is another example of Woolf's sterling architectural accomplishments.
The Pendleton-Evans residence has two periods of significance; 1942-1967 and 1967–2019. The 1942 period of significance is when the main house, swimming pool, pool house and landscaping of the grounds were completed and associated with master architect John Woolf’s design.
The second period of significance spans the time when prominent motion picture producer Robert Evans purchased the property from the Pendletons in 1967 for $295,000 and occupied it until his death in 2019. It is also believed that Charles Bludhorn (1926-1983) who was the head of Gulf & Western at the time, Paramount’s parent company, may have encouraged Evans to acquire the property on his behalf so it could be used as a corporate headquarter for Paramount Pictures during Evans’ tenure as studio chief.
Robert Evans was a maverick producer of Hollywood classic films. He was an American film producer and former studio executive at Paramount Pictures best known for his work on the films including “Rosemary’s Baby”, “Love Story”, “The Godfather” and “Chinatown”.
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Robert Evans earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination for producing the 1974 film Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston. In 1999, two of his films were vaulted for preservation in perpetuity at the Library of Congress: “Chinatown” and “The Godfather”. The film “Chinatown” was also inducted into the Producer’s Guild of America’s (PGA) Hall of Fame in 2003, and at the same time Evans received the PGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
In the 1980s, following a conviction for drug trafficking, Evans sold the house to french entrepreneur Tony Murray who already owned a home on North Beverly Drive. Evans regretted it almost immediately—"What had been my Garden of Eden for close to a quarter of a century was mine no more," he wrote. He tried to convince Murray to sell it back to him. At the time, Evans was working on the movie "The Two Jakes" with Jack Nicholson. Nicholson flew to Monte Carlo and convinced Murray to make the deal and ultimately agreed to sell the house back to Evans.
The property has been photographed and distinctly featured in numerous publications, television shows, and films such as 1964’s “Youngblood Hawke” starring James Franciscus. In 1960, photographer Slim Aarons captured the Pendletons in their backyard formally entertaining their guests gathered around the iconic oval egg shape pool and Regency pool pavilion in what appeared to be the quintessential Beverly Hills lifestyle of the time.
David Zaslav, current CEO of Warner Brothers, paid $16M for the 1.44 acre-property in January 2020 from the Robert Evans Estate in an off-market transaction.
On January 26, 2021, the Beverly Hills City Council voted unanimously to designate the Pendleton-Evans residence as a historic property.