In 1909, William Hay, the developer of the Crescent Heights neighborhood, embarked on an around-the-world honeymoon cruise with his newlywed second wife, Katherine Edmondson. Along the way they collected decorative items and finishes to be used for the estate they were building in the northwestern corner of Crescent Heights.
Construction on the home began in 1912. Ten months later, the Times covered the builders’ progress under the headline, “Palatial Homes Near Completion.” It stated that the house had twelve rooms and four bathrooms and, “The interior has been finished in Circassian walnut and various rare woods bought by Mr. and Mrs. Hay on a trip to the Philippines last summer. The wood had been shipped to San Pedro and then manufactured locally.… All the interior walls are being covered with canvas and hand-painted.” The article also noted that the estate had a two-car garage, a state-of-the-art feature for its day. Over the garage, there were “rooms for the help on its second floor.”
The estate, which they named Hayvenhurst, was at located at 8080 Sunset Boulevard (later changed to 8152 Sunset) and occupied a two-and-a-half acre lot between Crescent Heights Boulevard and Hayvenhurst Avenue. It will later become the Garden of Allah Hotel.
The Hays were sociable people. Katherine was a member of the Hollywood Club and the Ebell Club. They also entertained at Hayvenhurst. In April 1915, a Times society item noted that Katherine Hay had arranged a surprise party for William on his fifty-first birthday.. Mrs. Hay’s “artistic dinner” was served in “one of the handsomest rooms in the city,” according to the Times.
After living in Hayvenhurst for three years, William and Katherine Hay built an even grander house three blocks east, at 7940 Sunset Boulevard, on the corner of Sunset and Hayworth Street (where the Directors Guild building is now). During World War I, the Hays lent their vacant home down the street to the West Hollywood Red Cross Auxiliary.
By 1918, the house was vacant again.