Walnut Grove is the name a UC Berkeley architecture archive gives to a group of Eichler homes in Walnut Creek, developed by J.L. Eichler Associates, one of Joseph Eichler's companies. Contra Costa County's parcel layer lists build years of 1968 to 1972 for the house parcels in the two tracts on the streets the archive names. It isn't the Palo Alto tract of the same name, which has its own Walnut Grove Eichler history. A published history says the name came from Eichler's sales brochure, and that people now call the Walnut Grove Eichlers the Northgate Eichlers, after the surrounding neighborhood.
This guide covers the archive that lists the subdivisions, the county's tract numbers and build years, what the brochure promised, and what to check before you buy or remodel. Official records here are thin and don't always agree with the published history, so we say where each fact comes from.
What the architecture archive lists
J.L. Eichler Associates' Walnut Creek subdivisions are listed in the Oakland & Imada Collection at UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Archives. The collection documents the firm Claude Oakland formed in 1960, when he left Anshen & Allen, in the archives' words "taking the Eichler account with him." The archives say his association with Eichler continued until Eichler's death in 1974. They list J.L. Eichler Associates, Inc. as an Eichler development company from 1966 to 1972. Joseph Eichler was the developer, not the architect.
The collection's project index has these Walnut Creek rows, each with J.L. Eichler Associates as developer:
Subdivision 3765, Clyde Drive and Brighton Way, dated 1968 to 1971, a "residential: sub-division" entry with models W-4, W-5, W-14, W-14R, W-15, W-24 and W-24R.
Walnut Grove, English Court and Clyde Drive, dated 1969 to 1970, also filed as a subdivision. The index gives it no subdivision number and no model numbers.
Valley Vista, Subdivision 4116, dated 1971, a separate group (more on it below).
The finding aid explains the model names: each one combines a subdivision location code with a model number. The index's own key assigns the letter W to Valley Vista in Walnut Creek, and the Subdivision 3765 models carry it too. The index's dates are project dates; it doesn't say when the houses were finished. The careful wording is that the firm's archive lists these subdivisions. A published history goes further and says all the Walnut Grove houses were designed by Claude Oakland. No city or county record we read names an architect.
Tract numbers and build years in county records
Contra Costa County's assessment parcel layer records a tract number and a build year for each parcel. The county calls the online layer "for demonstrative purposes only," so treat it as a starting point. We checked it in November 2026, using street, tract, use, year and parcel-area fields and no owner fields. The Census Bureau's geocoder places points in both tracts below inside Walnut Creek's city limits.
Tract 3765 has 26 house parcels on Bliss Court, Brighton Way, Clyde Drive and Wiget Lane. The parcel layer lists a 1969 build year for 24 of them and 1968 for one. The remaining one carries a 1928 date, which may be a data error. The tract number matches the index's Subdivision 3765.
Tract 4028 has 28 house parcels: 18 on English Court, seven on Belford Drive, two on Clyde Drive and one on Wiget Lane, with build years of 1970 to 1972.
Tract 4757 has 10 other house parcels on English Court, all with a listed build year of 1978. That's after the years the archives give for J.L. Eichler Associates, and no record we read says who built them.
The same streets also run through other tracts with their own build years. Wiget Lane, for example, has tracts with listed build years from 1958 to 1966, and Belford Drive has tracts from 1966 to 1972. The county's records don't name builders, so a street name alone won't tell you whether a house is an Eichler.
The county's mapped lot areas also give a check on lot sizes. A published history quotes the brochure's promise of lots of "10,000 sq. ft. or larger." These mapped areas, which are not survey figures, show 19 of Tract 3765's 26 house lots at 10,000 square feet or more, with the smallest at about 8,900. In Tract 4028, 21 of 28 reach 10,000 square feet, and the smallest is about 9,600.
Where the sources disagree
The archive index and the published history don't use the name the same way:
The index puts Walnut Grove at English Court and Clyde Drive, and lists the Clyde Drive and Brighton Way work separately as Subdivision 3765.
The published history treats Walnut Grove as the whole tract. It places the Eichlers on Belford Drive west of Wiget, on Wiget Lane itself, on Brighton Way between Wiget and Clyde, on Clyde Drive south of Brighton, and on Bliss Court. It doesn't mention English Court.
In the county's parcel layer, Tract 3765's house parcels sit on Bliss Court, Brighton Way, Clyde Drive and Wiget Lane, the history's streets except Belford Drive. Belford Drive's parcels fall in several tracts, Tract 4028 among them. English Court, which the index names, is in Tracts 4028 and 4757. No record we read ties the name Walnut Grove to a tract number.
The dates differ too. The published history says the houses went up from 1969 into the mid-1970s. The build years the county's parcel layer lists for Tracts 3765 and 4028 run from 1968 to 1972. The same history says Eichler never completed the full plan in his brochure, and that one street is set a block apart from the rest. We found no city or county count of the Eichlers here. If the builder of one house matters to you, check its tract number, permits and assessor record.
What the brochure promised
Everything in this section comes from the published history, most of it from its account of Eichler's sales brochure. We haven't seen the brochure itself.
Larger, late houses of 2,305 to 2,500 square feet.
Most with four bedrooms, and most with atriums. The history also mentions models with galleries, atriums and courtyards.
Fiberglass insulation in both roofs and exterior walls, which the history says earlier Eichlers didn't have.
Utility lines underground.
A site on a former walnut orchard, where "as many walnut trees as possible have been saved." The history says few seem to remain today, and that residents later planted redwoods.
The county layer we read has no house-size figures, so check any one house's square footage, bedrooms and insulation against its own permits and plans. Our guide to atrium, courtyard and gallery plans explains the layouts the account mentions.
Walnut Creek's other Eichler groups
Walnut Grove isn't the city's only Eichler work. Walnut Creek's General Plan 2025 includes an action to "study ways to preserve the character of the Eichler homes in Rancho San Miguel." For that tract, see our Rancho San Miguel Eichler history. The archive index also lists Valley Vista, Subdivision 4116, dated 1971, with models W-4, W-4B, W-4C, W-14, W-34 and W-35. The county's parcel layer lists seven house parcels in Tract 4116, on Pazzi Road, Valley Vista Road and Valley Vista Court, all with a 1971 build year. For the city's modern houses in general, see our Walnut Creek mid-century modern homes page.
Historic status and city rules
We found no state listing for Walnut Grove. The California Office of Historic Preservation's list for Contra Costa County shows three Walnut Creek entries: Saklan Indian Village (listed 1975), Old Borges Ranch (1981) and Shadelands Ranch House (1985). None is an Eichler tract.
The city's design review rules changed in 2024. A city notice filed with the state says the council adopted Residential and Mixed-Use Design Review Standards and Guidelines in May 2024 and "extensive amendments to the Municipal Code in June 2024," including "a new design review process." It adopted further code amendments on October 1, 2024. The city's own website blocked our automated reads, so we couldn't check whether any rule names these streets. Ask Walnut Creek's planning staff which standards apply before you design a second story, a new roofline or an atrium cover. This is general information, not legal advice.
What to check before you buy or remodel
The tract number. Look up the parcel's tract number and build year, and compare them with Tracts 3765 and 4028. A build year before 1968, or another tract number, means you need more proof that it's an Eichler.
The atrium, drains and past changes. The published history mentions atrium beam rot, tree roots in drains, and garages and atriums that owners have changed. Treat these as things to check, not as facts about any one house. Have the atrium framing inspected, ask your insurer early how it treats an open atrium, ask about sewer lateral and drain work, and ask for the permits and plans for any change.
The house itself. Our guide on how to tell if a house is an Eichler walks through the features to compare.
Frequently asked questions
Is it Walnut Grove or the Northgate Eichlers?
Both names are in use. UC Berkeley's archive index and, according to a published history, Eichler's sales brochure use Walnut Grove. The same history says people now call the houses the Northgate Eichlers, after the surrounding neighborhood.
Who designed the Walnut Grove Eichlers?
The archive of Claude Oakland's firm lists Subdivision 3765 and Walnut Grove, and a published history says Oakland designed all of the houses. No city or county record we read names an architect. Joseph Eichler was the developer.
When were they built?
The county's parcel layer lists build years from 1968 to 1972 for Tracts 3765 and 4028. The archive index dates the projects 1968 to 1971, and a published history says building went on into the mid-1970s.
How many Eichlers are there?
We found no official count. The county's parcel layer lists 26 house parcels in Tract 3765 and 28 in Tract 4028, but it doesn't say which houses Eichler's company built, and the two sources don't agree on which streets belong to Walnut Grove.
Related reading
Concord Eichler History: Parkwood Estates and Two Rancho Tracts
Eichler Homes Company History: The Builder Behind the Tracts
Eichler Architects: Who Designed Which Homes, Tract by Tract
More guides on this topic: Eichler Neighborhoods & Tract Histories
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Want help confirming a Walnut Grove house's tract, model or local rules? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
