The Royal Manor Eichler tract is one of the larger late-1950s Eichler neighborhoods in Palo Alto. The city's Eichler design guidelines date it to 1957–1958 and count 201 lots, while the city's 2016 overlay reports count 203 properties in the tract. Unlike Palo Alto's better-documented tracts, it has no National Register nomination, no single-story overlay, and no architect named in the city's tract table.
That makes Royal Manor a good case study in reading an Eichler tract from the public record. This post covers what the maps and city reports say, the 2015–2016 single-story overlay request, how to identify a house's type without a model book, and what the flood zone means for changes. It is architecture and history, not a market report.
What the records say
The recorded map is Tract No. 1556, Royal Manor. The county's map index describes it as a subdivision of several numbered lots of the C. M. Wooster Company Subdivision of the Clarke Ranch. The map was surveyed in June 1955 and recorded on September 26, 1955. It lists Louis Road, Greer Road and Loma Verde Avenue along with the interior streets Kenneth Drive, Thomas Drive and Janice Way.
The houses came a little later. The city's tract table dates them to 1957–1958, and Palo Alto's parcel report agrees. We counted 138 parcels on Kenneth Drive, Thomas Drive and Janice Way in that layer, and every one carries a build year of 1957 or 1958, split almost evenly between the two. The gap between the 1955 map and the 1957 houses isn't explained in anything we read.
The lot counts differ by source. The guidelines' tract table lists 201 lots, and the city's 2016 staff reports describe 203 properties in Tract 1556. We found no document that reconciles the two, so we give both. The 2016 council report places the tract south of Loma Verde Avenue and east of Louis Road, next to the office area around East Meadow Circle and West Bayshore Road. It describes the houses as mostly single-story Eichlers of similar age and design, with many lots larger than the zone's minimum.
The city's table leaves Royal Manor's architect blank, and we found no official document that names one. Claims elsewhere that a particular firm designed the tract couldn't be confirmed, so we leave the question open. For Eichler's architects in general, see our Joseph Eichler page.
The 2015–2016 single-story overlay request
Royal Manor owners asked the city to put the tract under a single-story overlay. Six residents filed the application on October 27, 2015. It covered 202 of the tract's 203 properties. The one left out, a two-story stucco house at the tract's northeast corner, was built in the 1960s after the rest of the tract (the applicants' letter says 1963) and doesn't appear to be an Eichler.
The city's April 2016 council report and the planning commission report before it give a snapshot of the tract at the time:
183 of the 202 homes, or 90%, were single-story original Eichlers, above the 80% share the city requires for an overlay.
The other 19 were two-story. Staff described them as original one-story Eichlers with second-floor additions in the Eichler style and materials, and the applicants' letter says those additions date from the 1960s to the 1980s. Under an overlay they would have become non-complying.
Staff found no recorded restrictions limiting the tract to one story.
Lots on Loma Verde Avenue, Stockton Place and the north side of Kenneth Drive are zoned R-1, with a 6,000-square-foot minimum. The rest are R-1(7000), and those lots ranged from about 6,100 to 12,360 square feet.
Lots facing Loma Verde Avenue carry a special 24-foot front setback.
Owner support fell from 71% (144 of 202) at filing to 63.8% (129) by March 29, 2016, as some owners withdrew their signatures. The Planning and Transportation Commission still recommended approval on a 4–0 vote, with reservations about including Stockton Place and Loma Verde Avenue, and the City Council was scheduled to hear the request on April 18, 2016. Staff also noted that an overlay wouldn't require design review for one-story replacement houses; those need only a zoning check at the building-permit stage.
We found no record that the overlay was adopted. The city's 2018 guidelines map shows no overlay on Royal Manor, and today's parcel report lists the Kenneth, Thomas and Janice lots as R-1(7000) or R-1, with no "S." We didn't find the Council's minutes for that hearing, so this post doesn't say why.
The bid is also part of the guidelines' own history. The guidelines say the effort to write them began in 2016, when the City Council directed staff to work with the community after a series of owner-initiated single-story overlay requests and new state law on accessory dwelling units. A 2023 city staff report says the Council adopted the guidelines on April 2, 2018; the copy linked below is the March 2018 final draft prepared for that hearing.
Reading a Royal Manor house without a model book
With no published plan set for this tract, the city's guidelines serve as the field guide. They draw four typical Palo Alto Eichler types:
Front gable. A low-pitched front-facing gable, often at about 3:12, with clerestory windows under it, overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails, and exposed beams or braces under the gable. Some have a concrete block wall.
Flat roof. A flat roof with no parapet, with or without an overhanging eave, clerestory windows above the garage, sidelites beside the entry, and often an entry courtyard or atrium.
Flat with shed. A low-pitched shed roof over one bay and a flat roof over the other, with clerestories under the roof or over the garage.
Flat with gable. A flat roof with a steeply pitched gable over the entry, which may face the front or the side. These often have an entry atrium.
All four share one story, wood siding (often vertical), a carport or enclosed garage, and an entry that is often recessed or on the side. Across the city's tracts, the guidelines also list these features: post-and-beam framing on a slab, minimal glass on the street side, full-height glass with vertical wood divisions at the rear, garage doors clad in vertical board, solid wood front doors, radiant heat in the slab and, often, mahogany paneling inside. They also note that floor plans were often square and arranged around a center atrium or U-shaped around a rear patio or a front carport or courtyard. Our page on atrium living explains how those plans work.
Flood zone rules and what they mean for changes
On the guidelines' November 2017 flood map, Royal Manor falls inside the special flood hazard area. The guidelines explain the consequences. The lowest floor in that area must be raised above the flood level, which effectively rules out basements. Combined with height and daylight-plane limits, the higher floor may also make a second story hard to fit. The 2016 council report adds that the first floor of any new home in the tract must be at least 10.5 feet above sea level.
For changes, the guidelines suggest a few approaches that suit a tract like this:
Consider a first-story addition before a second-story one. It fits the one-story pattern and raises fewer privacy issues.
Keep an addition's roof no higher than the original house.
Look at enclosing an existing atrium, courtyard or carport to gain space without changing the overall massing.
In flood zones, use a flat or low-sloped roof to keep the perceived height down.
If adding a second story, face its windows toward the street rather than into side windows or rear yards next door.
Without an overlay, two-story work in Royal Manor goes through the city's Individual Review process for single-family homes. For the Kenneth, Thomas and Janice lots, the parcel report lists a maximum building height of 30 feet when the roof slope is under 12:12 and 33 feet otherwise. Projects under SB 9, the state law on lot splits and two-unit projects, follow separate city standards: Palo Alto's SB 9 objective design standards, approved by the City Council on February 12, 2024, set extra rules in mapped Eichler tracts, including a 22-foot maximum roof height (with a flood-zone allowance), roof pitches of no more than 3:12 and vertical-board or similar siding. Flood rules, height limits and review steps depend on the lot and change over time. Confirm them with Palo Alto's planning department, ask a land-use attorney about anything legal such as SB 9, and talk with a licensed architect or contractor before you design. The Palo Alto Eichler design guidelines have the full guidance. For the city's other Eichler tracts, see our Palo Alto mid-century modern page.
Frequently asked questions
When was Royal Manor built?
The tract map was recorded in September 1955, and the city dates the houses to 1957–1958. Palo Alto's parcel report gives 1957 or 1958 as the build year for every parcel on the tract's three interior streets.
Who designed the Royal Manor Eichlers?
The city's tract table doesn't name an architect, and we found no official source that does. Until a plan set or a recorded document turns up, treat any attribution with caution.
Does Royal Manor have a single-story overlay?
Not as far as the city's records show. Owners applied in October 2015 for 202 properties and the planning commission recommended approval in 2016, but the city's 2018 map and today's parcel zoning show no overlay.
How many two-story homes are in Royal Manor?
The city's 2016 reports counted 19 two-story homes among the 202 in the proposed boundary, all original one-story Eichlers with later second-floor additions, plus one two-story non-Eichler house at the northeast corner. That count is from 2016, so check city permit records for anything built since.
Related reading
Greenmeadow Eichler History: Palo Alto's Jones & Emmons Tract
Fairmeadow Eichler Tract: The Story of Palo Alto's Circle Streets
Researching a Royal Manor Eichler's history or roof type? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
