Eichler Homes company history is usually told through one man, Joseph Eichler. Public records also tell it as the story of a business: Eichler Homes, Inc., a Palo Alto merchant builder that bought land, hired outside architects, built tracts, arranged financing and sold houses directly to buyers. This guide follows the company from its 1947 start in Sunnyvale to its end in the second half of the 1960s.
Our sources are government documents and archive records: two National Register filings, a Caltrans statewide study of tract housing, Palo Alto's Eichler design guidelines, San Francisco planning and redevelopment reports, county map records and university archive guides. Where they differ, we say so. For houses on the market today, see our Eichler homes page.
Before Eichler Homes: the Sunnyvale Building Company
Joseph Eichler (1900–1974) came to homebuilding from finance. San Jose's National Register filing for its postwar tracts says he was born in New York City, earned a business degree at New York University and started on Wall Street. Greenmeadow's National Register nomination says he spent 20 years as chief financial officer of his in-laws' firm, Nye and Nisson, Inc., a butter-and-egg wholesaler. San Jose's filing says he moved to California in 1925 for that job and left the firm in the summer of 1945.
In 1947 he started a small building company. San Jose's filing names it the Sunnyvale Building Company and says it first sold prefabricated houses to people who owned their own lots, then built modest tracts, including the first phase of Sunnyvale Manor. Santa Clara County's map index lists Tract No. 371, Sunnyvale Manor, recorded September 30, 1947, and Tract No. 452, Sunnymount Gardens, recorded January 6, 1948, both with Joseph L. Eichler among the owners. By 1949, both National Register filings say, he had hired a draftsman to design two subdivisions; San Jose's names them as University Gardens in Palo Alto's Barron Park area and Stanford Gardens in Menlo Park.
When Eichler Homes, Inc. began: the records differ
The sources don't agree on whether Eichler Homes was the Sunnyvale Building Company under a new name or a new company:
Palo Alto's guidelines say Eichler's company was "initially named the Sunnyvale Building Company."
San Jose's filing says Eichler "founded Eichler Homes in Palo Alto in 1950."
The Caltrans study says that "a few years" after 1947, "he formed Eichler Homes."
A University of California archive guide to architect Claude Oakland's papers dates Eichler Homes, Inc. to 1950–1968.
The county map index shows when the company name reached recorded maps. Tract No. 647, Sunnyvale Manor Addition No. 1, recorded November 7, 1949, lists an individual Eichler as owner. Tract No. 714, a resubdivision of part of El Centro Gardens in Palo Alto, recorded March 6, 1950, and Tract No. 796, Greer Park, recorded October 2, 1950, list "Eichler Homes Inc."
The year Eichler first hired architects is disputed too: 1949 in Greenmeadow's nomination and San Francisco's modern architecture context statement, 1950 in San Jose's filing and the Anshen & Allen archive guide. Our guide to which architects designed which Eichler tracts covers that question tract by tract.
How the company worked
San Jose's filing calls Eichler Homes a merchant builder, "overseeing land acquisition, development, construction, financing, marketing, and sales of the homes directly to buyers." Greenmeadow's nomination says postwar homebuilders generally preferred to control design themselves, and that hiring architects as independent consultants set Eichler apart. The Caltrans study says he also commissioned Jones & Emmons to plan new tracts and design houses, and several sources say Claude Oakland took over from Anshen and Allen in 1960.
The architects changed how the company built. Greenmeadow's nomination says Anshen and Allen planned the houses on a four-foot module and that their clear drawings simplified materials purchasing and construction management. The Caltrans study says Eichler set up a storage yard in Mountain View where materials were cut to size and shipped to building sites. San Francisco's modern architecture context statement says he commissioned the landscape architects Thomas Church, Kathryn Stedman and Sasaki/Walker & Associates to design walkways, terraces, planter boxes, benches and fences.
San Jose's filing says Eichler and Jim San Jule successfully lobbied to remove Federal Housing Administration guidelines that limited help for buyers of modern homes. The filings describe San Jule differently: Greenmeadow's calls him a "company co-founder," San Jose's a public relations and marketing partner.
Greenmeadow's nomination says a national architecture journal named Eichler work "Subdivision of the Year" in December 1950, covering four projects: El Centro Gardens, Green Gables and Greer Park in Palo Alto, and Atherwood in Redwood City. Palo Alto's guidelines say the award went to "the five Eichler tracts built in 1950."
San Jose's filing also records the company's sales policy: from 1954 forward, it says, Eichler maintained a policy of non-discrimination, years before a 1962 executive order barred racial discrimination in federally funded housing programs. It adds that Eichler resigned from the National Association of Home Builders because the association endorsed racial restrictions.
Growth across California
San Jose's filing and the San Francisco statement both say the company had built 1,800 homes by 1954 (San Jose's says "more than"). The Caltrans study estimates more than 900 houses in the peak year, 1955, and says about two-thirds of all Eichler houses were in Santa Clara and southern San Mateo counties, with 2,700 in Palo Alto alone. Palo Alto's guidelines give that figure in one place and "well over 2,000" in another.
Greenmeadow's nomination says that a year after Greenmeadow, the company expanded into Marin County (Terra Linda in San Rafael), the East Bay (Rancho San Miguel in Walnut Creek) and Sacramento (South Land Park). The Caltrans study counts more than 1,700 houses in Marin tracts and more than 700 in the East Bay from the mid-1950s, plus a small number of tracts in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The San Francisco statement puts the Southern California total at 600 houses and adds "a few in New York."
Going public and building in San Francisco
San Jose's filing says the company was "first publicly held in 1961," and Greenmeadow's nomination says Eichler Homes became a public stock company that year. The company also moved into city building. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency's 1961 annual report records a June 7 groundbreaking for garden apartments by Eichler Homes, Inc. in Western Addition Area One, the first residential construction there.
The San Francisco context statement counts about 100 single-family houses, four high-rise towers and two low-rise developments by Eichler in the city. Our post on Eichler Laguna Heights and The Summit covers two of them. The Geneva Terrace dates differ: San Jose's filing says it was begun in 1960, while the San Francisco statement says the Geneva Terrace and Towers project was designed in 1961 and built in 1965 and 1966. The statement says the towers were closed in 1995 and demolished in 1998.
How the company ended, and what came after
The sources differ on how and when the company ended:
1966: San Jose's filing says Eichler "dispersed his shares in 1966" and the company "ceased operation soon after." Greenmeadow's nomination says two Southern California investors bought a controlling share that year, and the San Francisco statement dates the firm's dissolution to 1966.
1967: Palo Alto's guidelines and the Caltrans study say the company went into bankruptcy in 1967.
1968: The Claude Oakland archive guide dates Eichler Homes, Inc. through 1968.
The San Francisco statement blames, in part, an ill-timed focus on urban high-density housing and a weak rental market. The Caltrans study cites high-rise cost overruns and Edward Eichler's account of buyers' growing expectation of air conditioning, which radiant floor heating and large glass walls made hard to meet.
Joseph Eichler kept building. The Claude Oakland archive guide lists later companies: J. L. Eichler Associates, Inc. (1966–1972), Nonpareil Homes, Inc. (1967) and Alsco Homes, Inc. (1973–1974). The Caltrans study says he continued under different names, on a much smaller scale, until his death in 1974. Palo Alto's guidelines say the last Eichler house was completed on Guinda Street in Palo Alto in 1975. For more on the founder, see our Joseph Eichler page.
Researching an Eichler Homes house today
Three kinds of records help:
The recorded tract map. Santa Clara County's online map index lists each map's owners for maps recorded through 1957, which shows whether Eichler or the company was an owner of record. For later tracts, ask the county for the recorded map.
The architects' project records. UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Archives holds the Oakland & Imada collection, which includes Eichler project records and a project index. Its guide says model names combine a location code and a model number.
Historic status. Green Gables and Greenmeadow in Palo Alto are National Register districts, and Palo Alto has Eichler neighborhood design guidelines (adopted in 2018). Ask your city's planning office what applies to your address.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the rules for a specific property with the city or an attorney.
Frequently asked questions
When was Eichler Homes, Inc. founded?
Joseph Eichler started the Sunnyvale Building Company in 1947. Palo Alto's guidelines treat Eichler Homes as that company under a later name, while San Jose's National Register filing says he founded Eichler Homes in 1950. County maps list "Eichler Homes Inc." as an owner by March 1950.
When did Eichler Homes close?
The records differ. San Jose's filing and Greenmeadow's nomination point to 1966, when Eichler gave up control; Palo Alto's guidelines and the Caltrans study cite a 1967 bankruptcy; and one archive guide dates the company through 1968.
How many houses did Eichler Homes build?
The totals are close but not identical. San Jose's filing says more than 11,000 single-family homes by 1964. Greenmeadow's nomination says nearly 11,000 tract houses and hundreds of custom homes by 1974, in 32 Northern and Southern California towns.
What companies did Joseph Eichler run after Eichler Homes?
An archive guide lists J. L. Eichler Associates, Inc., Nonpareil Homes, Inc. and Alsco Homes, Inc. He kept building on a smaller scale until his death in 1974.
Related reading
Sunnyvale Manor Eichler History: Where the AA-1 Prototype Began
Greenmeadow Eichler History: Palo Alto's Jones & Emmons Tract
University Gardens Eichler, Palo Alto: The 1949–50 Draftsman Tract
More guides on this topic: Mid-Century Modern Architects & Builders
Have a question about an Eichler's builder, tract or history? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
