The Channing Park Eichler tracts in Palo Alto are two neighborhoods in the city's records. Channing Park No. 1 & No. 2, built in 1951–1952, has 57 lots credited to Anshen & Allen and A. Quincy Jones. Channing Park No. 3, a 1955 Jones & Emmons tract of 20 lots, sits next door. The first has had a single-story overlay since 2000; the second has none.
This post covers what city and county records say about the tracts, the shared architect credit and a conflicting date behind it, the overlay, and why flood zones matter on every lot. Where the records leave gaps, we say so. For homes across the city, see our Palo Alto mid-century modern page.
What the city's records say
The table of Palo Alto Eichler tracts in the city's 2018 Eichler design guidelines lists Channing Park No. 1 & No. 2 at 1951–1952, "Anshen & Allen, A. Quincy Jones" and 57 lots, and No. 3 at 1955, Jones & Emmons and 20 lots. A footnote says the lot counts come from city GIS files and don't necessarily match the number of homes.
On the guidelines' citywide map, the first two tracts are number 6, shaded as an overlay. Number 14, Channing Park No. 3, adjoins them on the west and isn't shaded.
Two recorded maps on the Greer Partition
The county's online index of recorded maps has both early units:
Tract No. 883, Channing Park Unit 1, surveyed in May 1951 and recorded on August 21, 1951. It lists Channing Avenue, Stanley Way and Alester Avenue.
Tract No. 909, Channing Park Unit No. 2, also surveyed in May 1951 and recorded on February 25, 1952. It lists Channing Avenue, Alester Avenue, Stanley Way, Newell Road and De Soto Drive.
Both are described as "a portion of Lot 1, Greer Partition." Neither lists Eichler as owner: Unit 1 names a title insurance company and Unit 2 a securities company. The same surveyor is named on Eichler Homes' 1950 maps for Greer Park and an El Centro Gardens resubdivision. The city's table ties the Channing Park name to Eichler, and the clerk's entry for the overlay ordinance, covered below, names both tract numbers.
By our count, 13 of the 14 Alester Avenue and Channing Avenue lots in the overlay show 1951 build years, and 36 of De Soto Drive's 43 show 1952. We read Unit 1 as the Alester and Channing lots and Unit 2 as De Soto Drive, which matches the streets each map lists, but no single record we found says so.
Stanley Way is a puzzle. It appears on both maps, but by our count its 19 parcels are plain R-1, outside the overlay, and 17 show a 1950 build year, before either map was recorded. We don't know whether those houses were ever part of Channing Park.
Two firms, one credit, two dates
Channing Park No. 1 & No. 2 is the only tract in the city's table credited to Anshen & Allen together with A. Quincy Jones by name. The guidelines say Jones & Emmons was founded in Los Angeles in 1950 and hired by Eichler "soon after" to supplement Anshen & Allen's work, and that both firms were central to new Eichler subdivisions until 1960.
The National Register study of Eichler's San Jose tracts gives a later date. It says that in 1952 Eichler "brought the architectural firm of A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons & Associates on board." Yet Channing Park's Unit 1 was recorded in August 1951, and by our count 15 of the overlay lots show 1951 build years. The city also credits A. Quincy Jones on Fairmeadow, which it dates from 1951. On their face, the records don't agree on when Jones began working for Eichler, and we don't pick a side.
We found no record that says which houses or years each credit covers, or whether the two units were split between the firms. Our Anshen & Allen architect page covers the firm's wider work.
The 2000 single-story overlay
The city clerk's ordinance list records Ordinance 4657, passed on September 18, 2000, as amending the zoning map "re Channing Park Tract 883 and Tract 909 from R-1 to R-1(S)." The city's June 2015 staff report on single-story overlays lists it as "Channing Park I and II (57 lots), Ordinance 4657." On the report's map it's labeled R-1 (S), bounded by Dana, Alester and Channing avenues, with its west edge near Louisa Court and Newell Place.
By our count, the parcel map in November 2026 shows 57 parcels zoned R-1 (S), matching both the table and the report:
De Soto Drive: 43 parcels.
Alester Avenue: 7 parcels.
Channing Avenue: 7 parcels.
Of the 57, 51 show a 1951 or 1952 build year and one shows 1953. Five show 2000, 2015 or 2018, which can mean a newer house, though the map doesn't say. Recorded lot sizes run from about 6,600 to 17,820 square feet, with a median near 7,470. Every parcel lists a historic status of "none" and a 17-foot height limit, and the state's list of listed historic resources in Santa Clara County has no Channing Park entry.
Neither the clerk's list nor the 2015 report says what level of owner support the application had. As posted in November 2026, Municipal Code section 18.12.100 caps overlay homes at 17 feet and one habitable floor; lofts and mezzanines count as floors. Our single-story overlay guide covers how overlays are added and removed.
An AH flood zone on every lot
By our count, 54 of the 57 overlay parcels are labeled AH, with numbers from 17 to 19.6, and three are split between A and AH labels. FEMA lists AH among its special flood hazard areas, the land a flood with a 1-percent chance in any year is expected to cover.
The guidelines explain the local picture: AE zones pond like a lake, AO zones carry flowing water up to two feet deep, and AH zones "may be either." The city's largest AH zone, they say, runs in a wide strip west of Middlefield Road from San Francisquito Creek, extending toward the Embarcadero Road and Bayshore interchange and "between Channing Avenue and Hamilton Avenue." It's subject to overflow from San Francisquito Creek and was roughly the area of "the disastrous flooding of February 1998." The guidelines don't name Channing Park in that passage, so treat the parcel map's AH label as the record for each lot.
The flood rules are in Municipal Code section 16.52. As the 2018 guidelines summarize them, they apply to new construction and "substantial improvement" in a special flood hazard area. They also apply to any improvement, no matter how small, to a structure there that was built or substantially improved since February 15, 1980. The lowest floor must be raised above the flood level, which in effect rules out basements. If the 2000, 2015 and 2018 build years reflect new houses, those houses fall on the post-1980 side of that line.
Here the overlay's height cap and the flood rules meet. Under the current text of section 18.12.100, when a house in a special flood hazard area must be raised to reach the base flood elevation, the 17-foot cap rises by half of that increase, up to 20 feet. FEMA's flood zone definitions are a useful starting point. This is general information, not legal advice. Before you buy, remodel or rebuild, confirm the current flood zone and rules with the City of Palo Alto, and ask an insurance professional about flood coverage.
Channing Park No. 3 next door
We found no county map for Channing Park No. 3; the county index has gaps in its 1950s volumes. The guidelines' map places it just west of the overlay, and the parcel map points to Newell Place, Louisa Court and adjoining lots on Newell Road and Channing Avenue. By our count, 17 parcels there show 1954 or 1955 build years:
Newell Place: 6 parcels (1 from 1954, 5 from 1955).
Louisa Court: 4 parcels, all from 1955.
Newell Road: 4 parcels, all from 1955.
Channing Avenue: 3 parcels, all from 1955.
We read these as Channing Park No. 3, but no single record we found says so. All 17 are zoned plain R-1, with a historic status of "none." Recorded lot sizes run from about 6,180 to 9,390 square feet. Sixteen are labeled AH, from 19.9 to 20.9, and one is split between X and AH.
Without an overlay, the parcel map gives these lots a height limit of 30 feet when the roof slope is under 12:12 and 33 feet otherwise. Two-story work falls under the city's Two-Story Objective Design Standards, effective February 14, 2025, unless the owner chooses the Individual Review process. Because Channing Park No. 3 is a mapped Eichler tract, the standards' Section E applies. It calls for roof pitches of 3:12 or less and no projecting entry porch, among other rules, and caps roof height at 22 feet above grade, plus half a foot for each foot the base flood elevation is above grade. Check with the city's planning division before you design.
Checking a Channing Park house
Zoning differs between the two tracts, and the AH numbers change from lot to lot, so start with the parcel report for the specific address. Then request the building permit history from the city; our guide to checking permit history walks through it. Look for any CC&Rs, too; the guidelines say the city doesn't enforce them, though residents may, and that many have been forgotten.
Frequently asked questions
Who designed Channing Park?
The city's guidelines credit Channing Park No. 1 & No. 2 to Anshen & Allen and A. Quincy Jones, and Channing Park No. 3 to Jones & Emmons. We found no record that says which houses each firm drew.
Does Channing Park have a single-story overlay?
The first two tracts do. The city clerk's ordinance list says Ordinance 4657, passed on September 18, 2000, changed Channing Park Tracts 883 and 909 from R-1 to R-1(S), and by our count 57 parcels carry that zoning. Channing Park No. 3 has no overlay.
Is Channing Park in a flood zone?
Yes. By our count, every parcel we counted in both tracts is wholly or partly labeled AH, a special flood hazard area. Check the label for the specific lot.
Related reading
More guides on this topic: Eichler Neighborhoods & Tract Histories
Thinking about buying or selling in Channing Park? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
