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Publishing powerhouse Jane Friedman opens up about the East Hampton retreat she built 25 years ago, the literary stars she entertained and why she’s ready to pass it on.
After more than 25 years in the East Hampton home she built from the ground up, Jane Friedman, the former HarperCollins CEO who helped transform the publishing industry, is ready to turn the page. But parting with the distinctive, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired retreat, now listed for $4.995 million, comes with mixed emotions.
“I love it. Everything was built with love,” Friedman told Spark Hamptons in an exclusive interview. “I’m ambivalent about selling it — but I want to sell it.”
Set on two wooded acres at 8 North Bay Lane in East Hampton’s Grace Estate area, the approximately 5,000-square-foot home is anything but a conventional Hamptons estate. With its soaring glass walls, warm wood interiors, stone fireplaces, Asian-influenced landscaping and custom-designed furnishings, the four-bedroom residence has a distinctly midcentury-modern sensibility.
“It’s an extremely unique house, very much midcentury modern, very much Frank Lloyd Wright-ish,” Friedman said. “Everybody who comes to the house says, ‘Whoa, it is really stunning,'” Friedman said.
She purchased the property in 1999 with her then-partner, and the couple built the house to suit their tastes and lifestyle.
“We wanted to be off the beaten track,” she recalled.
That vision extended to virtually every detail, from the landscaping and water features to the furnishings.
“Every piece of furniture was built exclusively for the house,” she said.
A House Designed for Living — and Entertaining
The house includes two swimming pools — a conventional pool and a lap pool — along with a hot tub, an indoor sauna and a Japanese soaking tub.
Inside, expansive windows bring the wooded landscape into view, while natural stone and rich wood finishes create a warm contrast to the home’s contemporary lines.
The great room features a substantial stone fireplace, and a separate library has built-in bookshelves, another fireplace and oversized windows overlooking the grounds.
The kitchen was designed with serious entertaining in mind.
“In those days, it had a state-of-the-art kitchen, two dishwashers, two ovens,” Friedman recalled. “My partner at the time, he loved to cook.”
The residence also includes four bedrooms, a loft space, two substantial staircases and a separate studio wing.
Outside, mature pines surround the landscaped grounds, where a koi pond, pergola and multiple gathering areas complement the pools and spa. The property also has a three-car garage, access to nearby preserve trails and a path to a bay beach.
From HarperCollins to Hosting Literary Stars
Friedman’s career spans more than five decades at the highest levels of American publishing.
She began her career in publishing in 1968, working in publicity at Random House and Alfred A. Knopf, where she is credited with pioneering the modern author publicity tour, including a 1970 tour for Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume II.
During nearly three decades at Knopf and Random House, she rose through the executive ranks, becoming publisher of Vintage Books and executive vice president of both the Knopf Publishing Group and Random House. In 1985, she founded Random House Audio Publishing, helping establish audiobooks as a significant part of the publishing business.
In 1997, she became president and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, a position she held until 2008. The following year, she co-founded Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publishing and marketing company that brought established literary works to new audiences.
She stepped down as Open Road’s CEO in 2016 and subsequently relinquished her roles as chairman and executive publisher in 2017.
Friedman has also been closely involved with the East Hampton Library’s annual Authors Night fundraiser, serving as a committee co-chair for the 2026 event. Her home has hosted dinners for some of the biggest names in publishing, including bestselling thriller writer Lee Child, Tina Brown and New York Times political correspondent Maggie Haberman.
“I had the stars, the top authors,” Friedman recalled. “I would host a dinner for 50 under the tent outside, beautifully, fully catered.”
One dinner with Child, creator of the Jack Reacher series, resulted in a particularly generous contribution to the library.
“I had a donor who was mad about Lee Child,” Friedman said. “When I hosted him, this donor gave a very large sum of money to the library. I was pleased.”
A House With a Personality of Its Own
Friedman acknowledges that the property has a particular character, one that sets it apart from the more traditional homes found throughout the Hamptons.
“The house is unique. It’s not for everybody,” she said.
Over the years, Freidman has listed the property with several brokers, occasionally taking it off the market. The current listing is with Adam Hofer of Douglas Elliman, whose reaction to the house struck a chord with Friedman.
“He called me and said, ‘Your house is so cool.’ He is the first person who used that adjective,” she recalled. “I loved that. It is cool.”
The home was previously offered for $5.5 million in 2025 and returned to the market in September 2026 at its current asking price of $4.995 million.
Ready for a New Chapter
After more than a quarter-century in East Hampton, Friedman says her decision to sell is less about the house itself than a change in how she wants to spend her time.
“I love it. I just don’t want to be out in the Hamptons anymore,” she said.
That doesn’t mean she intends to disappear from the East End altogether. She has friends with open invitations to visit and hasn’t ruled out renting a place for a couple of weeks next summer. She also enjoys spending time on Martha’s Vineyard.
“I’m not wanting for places to go or people to see,” she said.
For now, she hopes the next owner will appreciate the distinctive home she spent so many years creating.
“I want somebody else who’s going to love it,” Friedman said. “I want to pass the love on.”
IF YOU GO | THE LISTING
Address: 8 North Bay Lane, East Hampton
Asking Price: $4,995,000
Details: Four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, one half-bath, approximately 5,000 square feet on two acres.
Features: Two swimming pools, hot tub, koi pond, Japanese soaking tub, library, studio wing, sauna, three-car garage and path access to a bay beach.
Listing Agent: Adam Hofer, Douglas Elliman
See the House: https://www.elliman.com/listing/8-north-bay-ln-east-hampton-ny-11937/34963064
