The Los Arboles Eichler tract in Palo Alto is the latest tract that the city's Eichler guidelines credit to Anshen & Allen. The 2018 Eichler design guidelines list Los Arboles as built in 1959–1961, designed by Anshen & Allen and Jones & Emmons, with 84 lots. In 2015, owners of 66 of its homes asked for a single-story overlay, and the city granted it. Next to it sits a 1974 addition with something rare: Eichlers built with two stories from the start.
This post covers the tract, the 2015 overlay and what the city said it would and wouldn't do, and the addition the guidelines call Los Arboles Addition No. 2. It draws on the guidelines, the city's November 2015 staff report and its attachments, a 2016 staff report, the city's parcel map and the state's list of historic resources. Where the records disagree, we set the figures side by side. For homes across the city, see our Palo Alto mid-century modern page.
The 1959–61 tract
The guidelines say Anshen & Allen and Jones & Emmons were both central to Eichler's subdivisions until 1960, when Anshen & Allen moved on to larger civic and commercial work. Los Arboles straddles that change. No later tract in the city's table carries Anshen & Allen's name.
The November 2015 staff report calls the subdivision Tract 2396 and counts 85 lots. Its homes face Holly Oak Drive and Cork Oak Way, a run of Ames Avenue, a group of eight on Middlefield Road and two corners on Ross Road. Staff described the houses as Eichlers of similar age, 1959–60. As of 2015, 95 percent of the 83 homes inside the overlay boundary were original single-story Eichlers, and none had been torn down and replaced since 1960. The other four were original one-story Eichlers with small second-floor additions built in the 1970s.
The report gives lot sizes of 6,700 to 10,000 square feet, the majority between 7,000 and 8,000. Home sizes ran from 1,650 to 2,850 square feet.
On the city's parcel map, read in November 2026, we counted 83 parcels with the overlay: 38 on Holly Oak Drive, 26 on Cork Oak Way, 11 on Ames Avenue and 8 on Middlefield Road. Their build years are 1959 (37 parcels), 1960 (36) and 1961 (the eight on Middlefield), plus one 1957 and one 2022. A later year can mean a newer house, but the map doesn't say. All 83 are in flood zone X and show a historic status of "none." Zone X isn't a special flood hazard area, and at the 2015 commission hearing staff said the tract wasn't in a flood zone. Flood zones can change from block to block, though. Other houses on Ames Avenue, outside the tract, sit in zone AE, a special flood hazard area.
How the 2015 overlay came together
The staff report lays out the steps. Neighbors ran an initial survey in September 2014, sent a second letter and gathered signatures in May and June 2015. The application, filed June 30, 2015, carried 66 signatures from the 83 owners inside the boundary. That's 80 percent, against the 70 percent the code required. Two of the four owners with second-story additions signed.
The boundary left out two of the tract's 85 lots, both Ross Road corners, at their owners' request. One is a one-story Eichler whose entry faces Ross Road. The other is a two-story stucco house that isn't an Eichler. Staff and the Planning and Transportation Commission agreed with leaving them out.
The report notes that the city hadn't had an overlay request in a number of years. So staff mailed owners an August 24, 2015 memo explaining the process, on top of hearing notices to the homes inside the boundary and to property owners within 600 feet. The commission's September 9 hearing was put off to September 30 because the newspaper notice requirement hadn't been met. On September 30, the commission recommended approval: four in favor, none opposed, the chair abstaining and two members absent. The rezoning changed two Holly Oak lots from R-1 to R-1 (S) and the rest from R-1 (7000) to R-1 (7000)(S). Neighbors paid no fee: in June 2015, the Council had told staff to keep treating overlay requests as rezonings started by the commission.
The November 9, 2015 staff report went to the City Council for that night's meeting. A 2016 report on Royal Manor confirms that the Council approved the Los Arboles boundary that left out the two homes, and the parcel map shows the overlay on all 83 lots as of November 2026. We didn't find the Council's own minutes. The Municipal Code's ordinance list, read in November 2026, shows Ordinance 5363, dated December 31, 2015, rezoning part of Los Arboles, Tract #2396, from R-1(7,000) to R-1(7,000)-S, and two Holly Oak Drive lots from R-1 to R-1(S).
What staff said the overlay would and wouldn't do
The staff reports were direct about the limits:
Future construction is limited to one story and 17 feet.
Existing two-story homes, homes with lofts or mezzanines and homes over 17 feet become non-complying facilities under Chapter 18.70 of the Municipal Code. At the commission hearing, staff said existing two-story homes may remain.
The overlay doesn't ensure that Eichler-designed homes are kept. A one-story replacement wouldn't be reviewed for architectural fit or privacy, because one-story homes don't go through Individual Review or other discretionary review.
Staff added that with an overlay in place, buyers may be less likely to risk proposing a two-story home.
Our single-story overlay guide compares how Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Cupertino handle these districts. This is general information, not legal advice. Check the current code with the City of Palo Alto planning division before you plan a project.
Addition No. 2 and its two-story Eichlers
The guidelines' table lists Los Arboles Addition No. 2 as built in 1974, designed by Claude Oakland, with 31 lots, and its map draws it next to Los Arboles. The text adds that some tracts from late in Eichler's career, "such as the Los Arboles Addition of 1972-1974," included two-story houses designed by Oakland. The guidelines also credit Oakland with roof forms from the early 1970s found there and in the Community Center tract: center gables, turned gables, flat-topped center gables and hipped roofs.
The 2015 staff report describes the tract next door as Torreya Court, Tract 5371: 30 homes, nine of them original two-story Eichlers. On the parcel map we counted 22 parcels on Torreya Court, every one with a 1974 build year, plus seven 1974 houses on the adjoining part of Loma Verde Avenue and one on Middlefield Road. That's 30. None has the overlay: all are zoned R-1 (7000), two of them partly R-1, and all sit in flood zone X.
We read Torreya Court as the guidelines' Addition No. 2. They share the location next to Los Arboles, the 1974 build year on the parcel map, nearly the same count and original two-story Eichlers. But neither document uses the other's name, so treat the match as ours, not the city's.
On the day Los Arboles filed, a Torreya Court representative dropped off an overlay application too. Staff didn't accept it. With nine two-story homes, only 70 percent of the court was single-story, below the 80 percent minimum. Several of the two-story owners had also told staff they were concerned their homes would become non-complying. Staff said those owners were weighing a code change to allow rebuilding two-story homes, which wouldn't count as a standard overlay and would carry fees.
By 1974, Eichler Homes had closed, and Joseph Eichler was working as an independent developer; the guidelines say he died that year. Our Eichler Homes company history covers those later years and the companies he ran. We found no record that names the company that built Addition No. 2.
The guidelines add a design caution here. A second-story addition may not be appropriate on roofs with steeper center gables, which they place in the Los Arboles Addition and Community Center tracts.
A possible historic district
The guidelines recommend nominating more Eichler tracts to the National Register where there's community interest. They say Triple El and Los Arboles have architectural cohesion that equals or surpasses the existing Greenmeadow and Green Gables districts, and may be eligible. They add that the original two-story Eichlers in Addition No. 2 "are unique and may be eligible for individual listing."
Greenmeadow and Green Gables were nominated by residents and listed in 2005. The state's list of listed resources in Santa Clara County, checked in November 2026, shows both 2005 districts but no Los Arboles or Torreya Court entry.
Where the records disagree
Lots: the guidelines count 84 lots; the staff report counts 85 in Tract 2396, 83 inside the overlay. The guidelines' footnote says their counts come from GIS files and aren't exact home counts.
Dates: the guidelines give 1959–1961; the staff report says 1959–60; the parcel map shows 1959, 1960 and, for the Middlefield group, 1961.
Addition dates: the table and map say 1974, the guidelines' text says 1972–1974, and the parcel map shows 1974 on every Torreya Court parcel.
Addition size: the guidelines count 31 lots; the staff report counts 30 homes, and we count 30 parcels.
Frequently asked questions
Does Los Arboles have a single-story overlay?
Yes. The Council approved it after the November 2015 report, and the parcel map shows "(S)" zoning on 83 of the tract's 85 lots. The two Ross Road corner lots are outside it.
Are there two-story Eichlers in Los Arboles?
Inside the overlay, staff counted four original one-story Eichlers with small 1970s second-floor additions. The original two-story Eichlers are in the 1974 tract next door, around Torreya Court, which has no overlay.
Who designed the Los Arboles Eichlers?
The guidelines credit Anshen & Allen and Jones & Emmons for the 1959–1961 tract, and Claude Oakland for Addition No. 2. We found no record that says which firm drew which Los Arboles houses.
Is Los Arboles a historic district?
No. The guidelines say it may be eligible for the National Register, but the state's list shows no Los Arboles entry. Listing would take a nomination, which the guidelines tie to community interest.
Related reading
Royal Manor Eichler History: Reading Palo Alto's 1957–58 Tract
Eichler Architects: Who Designed Which Homes, Tract by Tract
More guides on this topic: Eichler Neighborhoods & Tract Histories
Thinking about buying or selling in Los Arboles or Torreya Court? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
