Leland Manor and El Centro Gardens are two Palo Alto names on a short list from 1950. According to the National Register nomination for Palo Alto's Green Gables historic district, a national architecture journal named five Eichler subdivisions "Subdivision of the Year" in its December 1950 issue: Green Gables, El Centro Gardens, Greer Park and Leland Manor in Palo Alto, and Atherwood in Redwood City. The nomination credits that list of names to a 1980 master's thesis.
After that, the two names part ways. El Centro Gardens is in the City of Palo Alto's 2018 Eichler guidelines, on county subdivision maps and inside a single-story overlay. Leland Manor isn't on the City's list, and the one county map with that name was recorded in 1939 by a development company. Its link to Eichler is unproven: it rests on the Green Gables nomination's list. This post sets out what each record says, where the records disagree and what to check on a house in either place. For homes across the city, see our Palo Alto mid-century modern page.
The 1950 award: four names or five?
The Green Gables nomination says that after the AA-1, Robert Allen's first design for Eichler Homes, went on the market in Sunnyvale in early 1950, Eichler commissioned Anshen and Allen to design five more subdivisions that year using variations of it. It's the one record we read that puts Leland Manor on the award list.
The other official records differ:
The Greenmeadow nomination, for Palo Alto's other National Register district, says the journal "collectively named four Eichler projects": El Centro Gardens, Green Gables and Greer Park in Palo Alto, and Atherwood in Redwood City.
The National Register study of Eichler's San Jose tracts says Anshen and Allen designed prototypes for five subdivisions in Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and Redwood City. After the AA-1 for the second phase of Sunnyvale Manor, it says, the firm "continued on to design four more": El Centro Gardens, Green Gables, Greer Park and Atherwood. It places the award one year before 1952.
Palo Alto's 2018 Eichler guidelines say the journal gave "the five Eichler tracts built in 1950" the collective title, without naming them, and cite the December 1950 issue.
So El Centro Gardens is on every named list we read, and Leland Manor is on one, which credits the name to a thesis. The year differs too: 1950 in the nominations and the City's guidelines, 1951 in the San Jose study. We don't pick between them.
El Centro Gardens on the county's maps
The name El Centro Gardens is older than Eichler's houses. The county's index of recorded maps lists two maps under it, both recorded on January 26, 1948, and both filed by individual owners:
Tract No. 413, El Centro Gardens Unit No. 1, with El Centro Avenue, Paul Avenue and La Para Avenue.
Tract No. 455, El Centro Gardens Unit 2, with El Centro Street, La Jennifer Way, Barron Avenue and La Para Avenue.
Eichler's company came in with a new map. Tract No. 714, titled "a Resubdivision of Tract No. 455 El Centro Gardens-Unit 2," was surveyed in January 1950 and recorded on March 6, 1950. It lists Eichler Homes Inc. as owner, and its roads as La Jennifer Way and El Centro Avenue. The index doesn't say whether it covered all of Unit 2.
The City's 2018 table gives El Centro Gardens a single year, 1950, credits Anshen & Allen, and counts 16 lots. A footnote says the counts come from City GIS files, and that one lot generally matches one house but the number doesn't necessarily equal the number of homes. On the City's citywide tract map it's number 2, drawn southwest of El Camino Real just below number 1, University Gardens, which has its own tract history.
What a 1950 Eichler was like
No record we read describes El Centro Gardens' models one by one, but two describe Eichler's 1950 houses as a group:
The City's guidelines say the AA-1 prototype was the basis for the houses Eichler built in several 1950 subdivisions. They list its ideas as post-and-beam construction, a largely flat roof, full-height glass along part of the rear wall, an attached garage or carport, and living and dining rooms combined at the center of the house. That year's plans, they say, all had three bedrooms and about 1,200 square feet.
The state's listing for Green Gables says that "as in all Eichler-built homes from 1950 on," the houses used a post-and-beam structure on a slab-on-grade foundation, and that radiant heating was standard.
Our Green Gables history, a tract its nomination calls "typical of the houses Eichler built during 1950," covers the plans in detail. Use these features as a guide, not proof.
El Centro Gardens today: the "Barron Park" overlay
El Centro Gardens has a single-story overlay, but not under its own name. The City's June 29, 2015 staff report on single-story overlays (ID 5907) lists the adopted zones, among them "Barron Park Tract 714 and portions of 4738 (20 lots), Ordinance 4535." Tract 714 is the Eichler resubdivision described above.
On the City's assessor parcels layer, which we queried on November 8, 2026, R-1 (S) zoning shows on La Jennifer Way, on part of El Centro Street, and on Timlott Court, Timlott Lane and San Jude Avenue. The layer shows 10 parcels on La Jennifer Way with a 1950 build year. The overlay's parcels on La Jennifer Way and El Centro Street may be the Eichler lots of Tract 714, but no record we read says so, and the county's index lists that map's roads as La Jennifer Way and El Centro Avenue. The R-1 (S) parcels on those two streets list a maximum building height of 17 feet, flood zone X and a historic status of "none."
The guidelines spell out what the overlay does: a maximum height of 17 feet and a limit of one habitable floor. They also tell owners in overlay tracts that they can disregard the guidance on two-story additions.
"Barron Park" is the overlay's name in the City's list, not the tract's, and other parcels on El Centro Street are zoned plain R-1. Check the zoning on the specific parcel.
Leland Manor: a 1939 map and no City entry
Leland Manor isn't in the City's 2018 tract table or on its citywide map. The county's index has one map titled Leland Manor: Tract No. 83, surveyed in February 1939 and recorded on March 7, 1939, in map book 3. It was filed by a development company, not by Eichler. The 1939 map's listed roads include California Avenue, Northampton Drive, Southampton Drive, Seale Avenue, Middlefield Road and Portal Place, and a note adds more streets from "two maps," among them Barbara Drive, Louis Road, Santa Rita and Embarcadero Road. The note also says the tract lay "adjacent to and partly within Palo Alto."
That map is eleven years older than the award. The records we read don't say whether Eichler's 1950 houses went up on lots in this subdivision, on land next to it or somewhere else that used the name. The index we searched has no Leland Manor map that lists Eichler or his company as owner. It isn't complete, though: it returned no maps recorded in 1972 or 1973, for example.
The City's parcel layer can't settle it either. On the streets the 1939 map lists, it shows build years from the 1910s to the 2020s, with many in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and it has no field that marks a house as an Eichler. So we don't name Leland Manor's Eichler streets here. If a house is described as a Leland Manor Eichler, ask for the evidence: original plans, early permits, or a deed that ties the lot to an Eichler map.
Checking a house in either tract
Parcel report. Read the zoning, flood zone and historic status for the exact lot. Lots in the overlay read R-1 (S).
Tract number. Ask the title officer for the legal description and compare its tract number with the county's maps: Tract No. 714 for the Eichler part of El Centro Gardens. For Leland Manor, a reference to Tract No. 83 places the lot in the 1939 subdivision. It doesn't tell you who built the house.
Old records. The 1939 map's note that Leland Manor lay partly outside Palo Alto is a reason to ask the county as well as the City for early permits.
CC&Rs. The guidelines say all Eichler tracts likely had CC&Rs at first, that many have been forgotten, and that the City doesn't enforce them, though residents may. Ask for any recorded restrictions on the lot.
The guidelines. El Centro Gardens is on the guidelines' tract map; Leland Manor isn't. Before exterior changes, ask planning staff whether the Eichler guidance applies to your lot. Our Palo Alto Eichler neighborhoods guide shows which tracts the map covers.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm current rules with the City of Palo Alto's planning division before you design.
Frequently asked questions
Is Leland Manor an Eichler tract?
One official record says Eichler built a subdivision by that name in 1950: the Green Gables National Register nomination, which credits the name to a 1980 thesis. The Greenmeadow nomination, the San Jose study and the City's 2018 tract table don't list it, and the county map titled Leland Manor dates from 1939. So the link to Eichler is unproven.
Who designed El Centro Gardens?
The City's 2018 table credits Anshen & Allen. The San Jose study also names El Centro Gardens among the subdivisions the firm designed for Eichler after the AA-1 prototype.
Does El Centro Gardens have a single-story overlay?
It appears so, under another name. The City's overlay list includes "Barron Park Tract 714 and portions of 4738 (20 lots), Ordinance 4535," and Tract 714 is Eichler's 1950 resubdivision of El Centro Gardens Unit 2. The parcel layer shows R-1 (S) on La Jennifer Way and part of El Centro Street; other parcels on El Centro Street are zoned R-1, so check the lot.
Related reading
Green Gables Eichler, Palo Alto: The 1950 Anshen & Allen Tract
Greer Park Eichler History: Palo Alto's 1950 Anshen & Allen Tract
University Gardens Eichler, Palo Alto: The 1949–50 Draftsman Tract
Palo Alto Eichler Neighborhoods: A Guide to Every Tract We Cover
More guides on this topic: Eichler Neighborhoods & Tract Histories
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Looking at a house in El Centro Gardens, or one described as a Leland Manor Eichler? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
