diff --git a/transformer_lens/HookedTransformer.py b/transformer_lens/HookedTransformer.py
index 8e32a9cd6..1c2a4a481 100644
--- a/transformer_lens/HookedTransformer.py
+++ b/transformer_lens/HookedTransformer.py
@@ -1070,6 +1070,7 @@ def from_pretrained(
         default_prepend_bos: bool = True,
         default_padding_side: Literal["left", "right"] = "right",
         dtype="float32",
+        first_n_layers: Optional[int] = None,
         **from_pretrained_kwargs,
     ) -> "HookedTransformer":
         """Load in a Pretrained Model.
@@ -1204,6 +1205,7 @@ def from_pretrained(
                 the model.
             default_padding_side: Which side to pad on when tokenizing. Defaults to
                 "right".
+            first_n_layers: If specified, only load the first n layers of the model.
         """
 
         assert not (
@@ -1261,6 +1263,7 @@ def from_pretrained(
             n_devices=n_devices,
             default_prepend_bos=default_prepend_bos,
             dtype=dtype,
+            first_n_layers=first_n_layers,
             **from_pretrained_kwargs,
         )
 
diff --git a/transformer_lens/loading_from_pretrained.py b/transformer_lens/loading_from_pretrained.py
index 7c36efdd7..e7ebea947 100644
--- a/transformer_lens/loading_from_pretrained.py
+++ b/transformer_lens/loading_from_pretrained.py
@@ -1389,6 +1389,7 @@ def get_pretrained_model_config(
     n_devices: int = 1,
     default_prepend_bos: bool = True,
     dtype: torch.dtype = torch.float32,
+    first_n_layers: Optional[int] = None,
     **kwargs,
 ):
     """Returns the pretrained model config as an HookedTransformerConfig object.
@@ -1501,6 +1502,8 @@ def get_pretrained_model_config(
     cfg_dict["default_prepend_bos"] = default_prepend_bos
     if hf_cfg is not None:
         cfg_dict["load_in_4bit"] = hf_cfg.get("quantization_config", {}).get("load_in_4bit", False)
+    if first_n_layers is not None:
+        cfg_dict["n_layers"] = first_n_layers
 
     cfg = HookedTransformerConfig.from_dict(cfg_dict)
     return cfg