Gavello homes are the 1950s houses of Gavello Glen, a Sunnyvale neighborhood designed by Anshen and Allen, the San Francisco firm whose 1950 Sunnyvale Manor houses led Joseph Eichler to hire architects for all his later tracts. A 2011 Caltrans study credits the builder Gavello and Perego with building Gavello Glen around 1952, and the county's map index records "Tract No. 551 Gavello Glen" in 1948.
This post covers what the county maps, the state study, the architects' archives and Sunnyvale's parcel data say about Gavello Glen, how the houses compare with Eichlers, and what we couldn't confirm, including the idea that the builders were brothers. It is architecture and history, not a market report. For the city's other mid-century neighborhoods, see our Sunnyvale mid-century modern page.
The builder in the record
We found no record of a company called Gavello Homes. Caltrans's Tract Housing in California, 1945–1973 names the builder as Gavello and Perego. It illustrates the "Gavello Glen tract, Sunnyvale," with Anshen and Allen as architects, built about 1952.
The study puts Gavello & Perego among the builders of Anshen and Allen tracts, alongside MacKay Homes. It describes both as builders who mainly built houses of traditional design and only occasionally built post-and-beam houses in the Contemporary style. The study's note cites two 1952 and 1954 articles in a national builders' journal, which we didn't read.
The county's map index records a 1948 Gavello Glen tract map and a 1955 survey in the same section:
Tract No. 551, Gavello Glen. Surveyed in August 1948 and recorded on September 28, 1948, on part of Section 6, Township 7 South, Range 1 West. It names Gary Avenue, Gail Avenue and Old San Francisco Road, and lists two owners named Gavello.
A 1955 record of survey. Surveyed in March 1955 and recorded on May 4, 1955, also in Section 6, naming Gail Avenue and Anshen Court. Its title doesn't mention Gavello Glen, and the index lists no owner for it.
Anshen Court shares its name with the architect Robert Anshen. A search of the index found no other maps with Gavello in the title or owner fields. Sunnyvale's online legislative records returned no council or commission items with Gavello in the title.
The architects: Anshen and Allen
UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Archives hold the Anshen & Allen Collection. Its finding aid and collection page say Robert Anshen (1910–1964) and Steve Allen (1912–1992) met at the University of Pennsylvania, earned architecture degrees in 1935 and 1936, and reached San Francisco in 1937. They landed their first commission in 1939 and formed the firm the following year. Caltrans also gives 1940, but the archive's collection web page says the firm was formed in 1939.
Their tract work for Eichler began with the second phase of Sunnyvale Manor. Caltrans dates the commission to 1949 and says the 51-house tract sold out in two weeks in 1950, which convinced Eichler to commission architects for all his later projects. The finding aid dates the start of the collaboration to 1950. Our post on Sunnyvale Manor covers that tract.
Caltrans adds three points that matter for Gavello Glen:
All of the firm's tract designs were Contemporary in style and used post-and-beam construction rather than stud framing.
The firm charged builders a flat fee for each house design, plus a royalty on each house built.
Its tract designs are concentrated in Silicon Valley communities from Palo Alto to San Jose. The study's other example is Sunshine Glen in Palo Alto, built about 1954 by MacKay Homes, covered in our Mackay Homes post.
Claude Oakland, who later designed for Eichler under his own firm, joined Anshen & Allen in 1950 and remained its principal designer of subdivisions and subdivision houses until 1960, according to the archive of his own firm. For the firm's wider work, see our Anshen & Allen page.
Gavello Glen in Sunnyvale's parcel data
Sunnyvale's parcel layer doesn't name the neighborhood, and only one parcel carries Tract 551, the Gavello Glen map. We grouped the houses on streets named on the county maps (Gary Avenue, Gail Avenue and Anshen Court), on nearby Duff Court, and in the two tracts that include Gavello Avenue, and counted 95 houses built from 1952 to 1955 in three groups:
Gary and Gail avenues, 1952–1955. Thirty houses, 23 of them on Gary Avenue and the rest on Gail Avenue, Duff Court and Anshen Court. Only one carries Tract 551; the others have no tract number recorded.
Tract 1196, 1953–1954. Twenty-one houses on Gail Avenue, Duff Court, Anshen Court and Gavello Avenue.
Tract 1270, 1954. Forty-four houses on Henrietta Avenue, Pierino Avenue, Gavello Avenue and Betty Court.
By year, that is 25 houses from 1952, 10 from 1953, 58 from 1954 and 2 from 1955. The two 1955 houses on Anshen Court have no tract number, which would fit the 1955 record of survey rather than a tract map.
Across the 95 houses:
Stories. 91 are one story and 3 are two stories; one record lists none.
Bedrooms. 46 have three, 34 have four and 12 have five. Three more records list zero, six or seven.
Size. The median recorded building size is about 1,880 square feet, ranging from about 1,215 to about 3,620.
Lots. The median lot is about 10,060 square feet, ranging from 5,000 to about 17,960.
Zoning. All are zoned R1 with no combining district. None is flagged as an Eichler, and none has an entry in the layer's heritage field.
These are today's county figures, so they include later additions and say nothing certain about the original plans.
A published account puts Gavello Glen at roughly 160 homes built from about 1952 to 1959. Next door, Tract 1554 continues Pierino and Henrietta avenues and adds Iris Avenue, Jackpine Court and part of Gail Avenue, with 63 houses from 1956 to 1959 and one more with no year. Counting it brings the total close to 160. But no record we read names the builder of Tracts 1196, 1270 or 1554, so these groupings are ours, not a record's. Tract 1554 is zoned R0 rather than R1, and 11 of its houses are two stories.
How Gavello houses compare with Eichlers
The state study sets the frame: the same architects as Eichler's early tracts, but a builder whose usual product was traditional. The descriptions of the houses themselves come from a later published account, so treat them as things to look for, not a record:
Street face. More conservatively styled than Eichlers, with front windows that read more like a ranch house.
Roofs. Low gables with clerestory windows over living areas and garages, and on some models a steep, glass-filled central gable.
Windows. Tall, vertical screened openings beside the kitchen windows, each opened or shut with a wooden shutter, and a rear glass wall held by wooden mullions rather than aluminum.
Shared Eichler traits. Open-beam ceilings, indoor-outdoor living and concrete slabs with radiant heat.
Siding. Scored plywood on some of the long, low models.
The same account makes two claims of priority that we couldn't check. It says Gavello houses had the steep, glass-filled central gable five or more years before Eichler built any, and it dates Claude Oakland's similar gables for Eichler tracts to about 1962. It also passes on a report that some Gavello Glen houses from 1955 or earlier have an atrium, which it describes as more of a side court. Caltrans, for its part, says Anshen and Allen's atrium plan for Eichler was first introduced in 1957. Neither source gives a dated Gavello plan, so we note both.
Because the city's layer doesn't flag these houses as Eichlers, ask the planning division whether its 2009 Eichler Design Guidelines, which cover "Eichler and Eichler-like homes and their neighborhoods," apply to a Gavello Glen house. As adopted in 2009, the guidelines cover homes Eichler built and non-Eichler homes inside the neighborhood boundaries on the guidelines' map, so that map decides it. For single-family homes generally, the City Council adopted Lower Density Residential Objective Design Standards on July 21, 2026, and on July 28 adopted Ordinance No. 3258-26, which replaces the city's design review chapter. This is general information, not legal advice. Check your parcel with Sunnyvale's planning division.
What we couldn't confirm
Brothers. No record we read calls the builders brothers, and the published account names a single developer.
Other South Bay tracts. We found no Gavello tract outside Sunnyvale in the county index or the state study.
The house count. The published account's figure of roughly 160 homes matches our count only if Tract 1554 is included, and no record we read names the builder of Tracts 1196, 1270 or 1554.
The original plans. The Anshen & Allen finding aid we read doesn't mention Gavello Glen, and we couldn't reach the collection's online catalog.
What to check on a Gavello Glen house
Tract and year. Find the tract number and build year on the assessor record: Tract 551 or no number for the 1952 houses on Gary Avenue, and Tract 1196 or 1270 for 1953 and 1954.
Framing. Ask your inspector whether the house is post-and-beam or stud-framed. The state study says this builder built both kinds of house.
Heating. If the slab has radiant heat, have a specialist check it.
Additions. Compare the recorded size and bedroom count with the house. The published account says many owners extended the living room toward the rear.
Permits. Pull the permit history before you plan changes, and ask the planning division which design rules apply.
Frequently asked questions
Who built Gavello Glen?
Caltrans's 2011 tract-housing study credits Gavello and Perego, with Anshen and Allen as architects, and dates the tract to about 1952. The county's 1948 map for Tract No. 551 is titled Gavello Glen.
Are Gavello homes Eichlers?
No. They share architects with Eichler's early tracts, but a different builder built them. Sunnyvale's parcel layer doesn't flag any of them as Eichlers.
When was Gavello Glen built?
The first tract map was recorded in 1948, Caltrans dates the tract to about 1952, and Sunnyvale's parcel layer gives build years from 1952 to 1955 for the 95 houses we counted. A published account says building ran to about 1959.
Were the Gavellos brothers?
We couldn't confirm it. The records we read name the builder Gavello and Perego and list two owners named Gavello on the 1948 map, but none describes the builders as brothers.
Related reading
More guides on this topic: Mid-Century Modern Architects & Builders
Curious about a Gavello Glen house's tract, architects or history? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
