The Mill Valley Eichler homes are a small group of modern houses on Strawberry Point, a peninsula on Richardson Bay with Mill Valley addresses, in unincorporated Marin County outside the city's limits. In the mid-1960s Joseph Eichler planned a waterfront subdivision there that he called Harbor Point, but published accounts say only 13 or 15 houses were built before his company went bankrupt.
This post covers the land's history, the Harbor Point plan, where the sources disagree, the architects and the houses, and the agencies whose rules reach a lot at the water's edge. It is architecture and history, not a market report. For the wider area, see our Mill Valley mid-century modern page.
A peninsula on Richardson Bay
Mill Valley's historic context statement, adopted by the City Council on June 7, 2021, says the area was once part of Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio, the first land granted on the Marin Peninsula by the Mexican government. John Thomas Reed received the 7,845-acre rancho in 1834, and the statement lists present-day Tiburon, Belvedere, Strawberry Point, Larkspur, Greenbrae and parts of Corte Madera and Mill Valley within it.
A published history of the Eichlers picks up from there. It says the peninsula stayed largely undeveloped until 1959, when Golden Gate Seminary built a campus there, and that in 1945 some Bay Area leaders had tried to get the United Nations to build its headquarters on the site.
The city's statement covers only incorporated Mill Valley, touching neighboring areas with Mill Valley addresses only occasionally, and it doesn't mention the Strawberry Point Eichlers. Its one reference to Eichler comes in a description of the Second Bay Tradition, a regional modern style it says is found in the hills of Oakland and Marin and "in the Peninsula tracts developed by Joseph Eichler." It describes that style's post-and-beam construction, flat or low-pitched roofs, and atriums, pergolas or trellises that tie the house to the outdoors.
Harbor Point: 99 lots planned
A 2022 article describes Eichler's plan as 99 houses filling a spit of land surrounded by the Bay. His advertising promised a "community of premium homes, flanking public marina and docking facilities," with hill lots of up to half an acre. A 2012 article says Eichler Homes launched the tract in 1965 and 1966. The 2022 article says the 13 model homes were built a year before one owner bought in 1966, and a 2022 blog post says Eichler promised the 99 homes in 1966.
The plan stopped short. The 2022 article says Eichler Homes went bankrupt in the mid-1960s, undone by financial problems tied to urban projects such as the Eichler Summit, a high-rise on San Francisco's Russian Hill. Two official histories put the end in 1966: SF Planning's 2011 modern-architecture context statement says Eichler's larger San Francisco projects led to the firm's dissolution that year, and the National Register form for San Jose's Eichler tracts says Eichler dispersed his shares in 1966 and the company ceased operation soon after. Palo Alto's 2018 Eichler design guidelines give a different year: they say the company filed for bankruptcy and closed in 1967. After the bankruptcy, the 2022 article says, buyers bought homes from the bank that had taken over the project, while the other 86 lots slated for Eichlers stayed empty for years. Construction on them began around 1973, and the hills above filled with houses by other builders.
How many Eichlers? 13 or 15
We found no official count, and the published ones differ:
The 2022 article and the 2022 blog post say 13. The article puts ten on Starboard Court and three on adjacent Great Circle Drive.
The 2012 article says there are 15 Eichlers at Strawberry Point.
The 2022 article's figure of 86 unbuilt lots matches the count of 13 out of 99. Either way, the Eichlers are a small share of the houses on the point.
The architects and the houses
The 2022 article says Claude Oakland designed most of the 13 houses and Jones & Emmons as many as three, and the 2022 blog post names both firms. UC Berkeley's Environmental Design Archives says Oakland started Claude Oakland & Associates in 1960, taking the Eichler account with him, and that his firm became Oakland & Imada in 1977. UCLA's finding aid for A. Quincy Jones's papers dates his partnership with Frederick Emmons from 1951 to 1969. Our Claude Oakland page and Jones & Emmons page cover both firms' wider work.
The houses don't repeat. In the 2012 article, Kinji Imada, Oakland's later partner, recalled that "Joe wanted each house to be different," because the houses were priced at the high end. The 2022 accounts add these details:
Five are original Eichler two-story or split-level designs, drawn for challenging sites. One sits below a long driveway on Great Circle Drive.
One two-story house has a fully rectangular living space, where similar Eichler two-story plans have a double-height space shaped by an angled gable.
There is a steep-gabled house on Starboard Court, a flat-roofed house on Great Circle Drive and at least one house with an atrium.
Several are almost entirely intact, with paneled walls and original kitchens. One has an added partial second story, and at least two others have been heavily remodeled.
If you have original drawings, look for the model code. Berkeley's finding aid for the Oakland & Imada Collection says Eichler models carry a subdivision location code and a model number, such as MC-184 for Marin County model 184.
Built at the water's edge
The 2022 blog post calls this the only tract Eichler built directly on the water. Published accounts say several lots extend into Richardson Bay, some houses have steep walkways down to a small beach exposed at low tide, and beyond the spit is a wildlife sanctuary with harbor seals that is off limits to people.
That can put parts of some lots under state rules. The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission's jurisdiction includes all areas subject to tidal action, marshlands between mean high tide and five feet above mean sea level, tidelands and submerged lands, plus a shoreline band running 100 feet inland from the shoreline. Its permit page says you need a permit before you construct, remodel or repair a structure, grade land, subdivide property, or dredge within that jurisdiction.
The water itself needs upkeep. Marin LAFCo's June 2020 service review for the Tiburon Peninsula region says the Strawberry Recreation District set up a dredging zone in 1989 to keep the waterway east of Strawberry Drive open for boating access to waterfront properties, with dredging in 1992, 2005 and 2014 and the sediment taken to a disposal site at Alcatraz. A 2004 State Lands Commission notice covers one lease: up to 45,000 cubic yards over 10 years to maintain a navigable depth in Richardson Bay. Because dredging isn't a listed power of a recreation district, the review suggested that the district and the county consider a new county service area to take it over. We didn't confirm which parcels the dredging serves or whether that change has been made.
Who governs Strawberry Point
Marin LAFCo's 2020 service review calls Strawberry an unincorporated community and census-designated place that shares a ZIP code with Mill Valley. It places the recreation district between the Town of Tiburon's western boundary and Highway 101, and it says the County of Marin provides community development, police, library and road maintenance services there. So the county, not the city, handles planning and permits. At a January 27, 2017, LAFCo meeting, a Strawberry resident speaking for a neighborhood association asked the commission to work with the community on exploring annexation to the Town of Tiburon. The 2020 review notes that Strawberry was removed from Tiburon's sphere of influence in 2004, and we found no record of an annexation.
Exterior changes get local review too. Marin County's Strawberry Design Review Board reviews projects covered by the Strawberry Community Plan and makes recommendations to the county; its recommendations are advisory only. A 2015 account of a proposed addition to an original two-story Eichler on Starboard Court describes review by that local board and then county officials, with story poles to show the addition's size. The same account says views are governed by covenants attached to the titles of the 99 lots Eichler planned.
The houses aren't on a historic list that we could find. The state's list of listed historical resources for Marin County has no Strawberry entry; its only Mill Valley entry is the Outdoor Art Club, listed in 1978. Mill Valley's context statement covers only the incorporated city, and its historic resources inventory was built from the city's own lists, so neither reaches Strawberry.
What to check before you buy or remodel
Who built the house. Other builders started on the unbuilt lots around 1973, so confirm the original builder from permit and assessor records.
Title covenants. Ask a title company for the recorded covenants on views, and an attorney what they allow.
Shoreline jurisdiction. If the lot reaches the Bay, ask BCDC whether your project falls in its jurisdiction before you design.
County review. Ask Marin County planning which design review applies and whether story poles will be required.
The shoreline itself. A geotechnical engineer can look at slopes, walkways and any structures near the water.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm the rules for a specific property with Marin County, BCDC or an attorney.
Frequently asked questions
How many Eichlers are on Strawberry Point?
Published accounts say 13 or 15. The 2022 accounts count 13, ten on Starboard Court and three on Great Circle Drive, out of 99 planned; a 2012 article says 15.
Who designed the Strawberry Point Eichlers?
A 2022 article credits Claude Oakland with most of the 13 houses and Jones & Emmons with as many as three. Each house is different, and five are original two-story or split-level designs, according to published accounts.
Is Strawberry Point part of Mill Valley?
It has Mill Valley addresses, but Marin LAFCo's 2020 service review calls the Strawberry community unincorporated, so Marin County, not the city, handles planning. The city's historic survey stops at its limits. See our Marin County mid-century modern page for other Marin tracts.
Does a Bay-front Eichler need a BCDC permit?
It can. BCDC requires permits for building, remodeling, repair, grading and dredging in the Bay and within 100 feet of the shoreline. Ask BCDC about a specific lot.
Related reading
Lucas Valley Eichler History: Upper and Lower Tracts in Marin
Eichler Laguna Heights and The Summit: San Francisco Apartments
San Mateo Highlands Eichler History: The Hillside Tract and the X-100
More guides on this topic: Eichler Neighborhoods & Tract Histories
Curious about a Strawberry Point Eichler's model, permits or shoreline rules? Call or text the Boyenga Team at Compass at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or contact the Boyenga Team online.
