Joseph Eichler was a builder, not an architect, and the look buyers associate with his name came from the firms he hired. Knowing which of the Eichler architects designed your house, or the one you are touring, explains its roofline, its plan and even its model number.
This guide is a reference index. It covers the three firms in the order they joined Eichler, the tracts each is credited with in Palo Alto and San Jose public records, and where to look up your own house. Each section links to our architect profile and floor plan pages for more detail.
Before the architects
Eichler started his company in 1947 as the small Sunnyvale Building Company, according to the National Register multiple property document for San Jose's Eichler tracts. Palo Alto's Eichler design guidelines list University Gardens, built in 1949 and 1950, as designed by Joseph Eichler with a draftsman named Castor. The architect-designed era began right after. For Eichler's own story, see our Joseph Eichler page.
Anshen and Allen: the first architects (about 1950 to 1960)
S. Robert Anshen (1909–1964) and William Stephen Allen (1912–1992) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1936 and formed their firm in San Francisco by 1940. Robert Anshen and his wife Eleanor had written about bringing technology into mass-produced housing, and work for Eichler let the firm test those ideas.
The AA-1 prototype. The firm's first Eichler design was for the second phase of Sunnyvale Manor in Sunnyvale. The Caltrans history of tract housing dates the commission to 1949, while the Palo Alto and San Jose documents date it to 1950. The San Jose document describes a T-shaped plan: a living-dining wing under a higher low-sloped roof, opening to a private patio through full-height glass doors, and a separate wing for bedrooms and the garage under a lower roof.
A system, not just a style. The Greenmeadow National Register nomination says Anshen recommended post-and-beam construction for its speed and flexibility, and that the firm planned buildings on a four-foot module. In Palo Alto's Green Gables, one plan type was arranged in four variations to suit different lot orientations.
The atrium plan. Caltrans credits Anshen and Allen with the Eichler atrium plan, introduced in 1957, and says the majority of Eichler's houses built after 1957 included atriums. The San Jose document notes the firm's model E-111 of 1959.
Moving on. Palo Alto's guidelines say the firm moved on to larger civic and commercial work in 1960.
Read more on our Anshen and Allen page and compare layouts on the Anshen and Allen floor plans page.
Jones and Emmons: from the early 1950s
A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons founded their Los Angeles partnership in 1950. The sources differ on when the firm started with Eichler. The San Jose document says Eichler brought it on in 1952. Caltrans says Jones and Emmons began designing for Eichler shortly after December 1950, and Palo Alto's tract table credits A. Quincy Jones on tracts dated from 1951. Palo Alto's guidelines say the firm was hired to supplement Anshen and Allen's work. Caltrans says Eichler built about 5,000 houses from Jones and Emmons plans, with Jones as principal designer.
Site planning. Palo Alto's guidelines credit Jones with a strategy of smaller lots and pooled common space, which made the community pool and building a standard feature in larger tracts. The San Jose document credits the firm's site plans, with curving streets and carefully oriented houses, for making each home feel custom.
Greenmeadow. In Palo Alto's Greenmeadow, the firm developed six models that buyers could adjust. The National Register nomination shows them as plans JE-14 through JE-19.
The X-100. Jones and Emmons designed the steel-frame X-100 model home built for Eichler in San Mateo; a dining room photograph of it is dated 1956. See our Eichler X-100 page.
The carport atrium. Caltrans says Jones refined the atrium plan by adding a central carport under a high-pitch gable, which Eichler introduced in his Lucas Valley tract in Marin County, begun in 1963.
Beyond houses. The firm also designed the Laguna Eichler Apartments in San Francisco's Western Addition in the mid-1960s. The partnership ended when Emmons retired; Palo Alto gives the year as 1969 and Caltrans as 1970.
More on our Jones and Emmons page and the Jones and Emmons floor plans page.
Claude Oakland: from 1960
Claude Oakland (1919–1989) was born in Louisiana, studied architecture at Tulane and, according to Palo Alto's guidelines, trained with architect Bruce Goff. He joined Anshen and Allen in 1950, worked on Sunnyvale Manor and, over ten years there, became the principal architect for Eichler's projects. In 1960 he started Claude Oakland & Associates and took the Eichler account with him. His work for Eichler continued until Eichler's death in 1974, and the firm became Oakland & Imada in 1977.
Refinement. The San Jose document credits Oakland with simplifying early Anshen and Allen designs by limiting the number of elements and running the beams in one direction.
New roofs. Palo Alto's guidelines say he introduced hipped roofs, gabled roofs with flat peaks and gables parallel to the street.
Gallery models and two stories. In the 1960s he designed and refined gallery models with indoor atriums under tall or pitched roofs. Later, he designed two-story Eichlers, found in Palo Alto's Los Arboles Addition of 1972 to 1974.
A dated example. Palo Alto's guidelines illustrate model L-154, designed by Oakland in Los Altos in 1968.
More on our Claude Oakland page and the Claude Oakland floor plans page.
Who designed which tract
Palo Alto's guidelines include a table of the city's Eichler tracts with dates, architects and lot counts. Lot counts come from city mapping and are approximate house counts. Tracts with an architect listed include:
Anshen and Allen: El Centro Gardens (1950, 16 lots), Charleston Meadows (1950–1951, 158), Green Gables (1950–1951, 63), Greer Park (1950–1951, 131).
A. Quincy Jones: Fairmeadow (1951–1954, 300), Edgewood (1956, 93).
Anshen and Allen with A. Quincy Jones: Channing Park No. 1 and No. 2 (1951–1952, 57).
Anshen and Allen with Jones and Emmons: Walnut Grove (1953–1954, 30), Garland Park (1958, 35), Los Arboles (1959–1961, 84).
Jones and Emmons: Charleston Gardens (1954, 79), Greenmeadow No. 1 and No. 2 (1954–1955, 244), Channing Park No. 3 (1955, 20), Triple El (1955, 68).
Claude Oakland: Greenmeadow No. 3 (1961–1962, 27), Midcourt (1972, 9), Community Center (1973, 30), Los Arboles Addition No. 2 (1974, 31).
Several Palo Alto tracts in the table have no architect listed. Green Gables and Greenmeadow are National Register historic districts.
In San Jose, the National Register multiple property document covers 484 homes in eight tracts in five neighborhoods. It places Morepark, begun by 1952, in Eichler's experimental period with both Anshen and Allen and Jones and Emmons. Fairglen Additions No. 1, 2 and 3 (218 units, begun in 1959) were advertised in a newspaper announcement as designed by Jones and Emmons and Claude Oakland, and 1960 drawings of model SJ-4 for those additions are signed by Oakland. Jones and Emmons were among the designers of Fairhaven, Eichler's last San Jose tract. For the full Palo Alto picture, see the city's Eichler design guidelines, and for San Jose, the National Register multiple property document.
How to find out who designed your Eichler
Start with the tract name on your county assessor record or recorded tract map, then check it against the lists above or a city document for your area.
Look at the plan and roof. Our mid-century modern floor plans page shows the main layout types side by side.
Check the city's permit file for original drawings, which may carry a model number and an architect's name.
Search the archives. UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Archives holds the Anshen & Allen Collection and the Oakland & Imada Collection. Eichler project records make up the bulk of the Oakland & Imada collection, and the archive posts a project index online.
Frequently asked questions
Who were Eichler's main architects?
Anshen and Allen, from 1949 or 1950 depending on the source; Jones and Emmons, from the early 1950s (1952 in the San Jose document, earlier in Caltrans and Palo Alto's tract table); and Claude Oakland, whose own firm took over the Eichler account in 1960. Oakland had already been the principal architect for Eichler projects while at Anshen and Allen.
Which architect designed Eichler atrium homes?
Caltrans credits Anshen and Allen with the first Eichler atrium plan, introduced in 1957. Jones refined it with a central carport under a high gable, and Oakland designed 1960s gallery models with indoor atriums under tall or pitched roofs.
Did Eichler build two-story homes?
Yes, a few. Palo Alto's guidelines say Claude Oakland helped develop two-story designs, which are found in the Los Arboles Addition of 1972 to 1974.
Where can I see original Eichler drawings?
Start with your city's permit file. UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Archives holds the Anshen & Allen and Oakland & Imada collections, and the Oakland & Imada project index is a good first search.
Related reading
Greenmeadow Eichler History: Palo Alto's Jones & Emmons Tract
Sunnyvale Manor Eichler History: Where the AA-1 Prototype Began
Want help reading the design history of a house you own or are considering? Call or text the Boyenga Team at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team.
