Property Nerd Lab
Is It an Eichler? Clue Checker
"Eichler" names a builder, not a style. Joseph Eichler's company built more than 11,000 houses in California, according to Palo Alto's Eichler design guidelines, and other builders put up low-roofed, glass-walled houses in the same years, sometimes on the same streets. Tick each clue you can confirm.
Records
Records can confirm who built a house. Everything else here is a clue.
From the sidewalk
Not every Eichler has all of these, but an original one usually shows several.
Structure
The strongest physical clues, because structure is the hardest part of a house to change.
Clues found of 16
Count the boxes you ticked, then read the matching band below.
0 clues
Start with the records
The fastest test is the tract. Ask your agent or title officer which recorded tract the parcel is in, then compare it with the city's list or ask the planning department.
1 to 5 clues
A few clues
Not enough to go on. Other builders put up low-roofed, glass-walled houses in the same years, sometimes on the same streets.
6 to 10 clues
Several clues
Worth a closer look. Look-alikes exist: Anshen & Allen also designed modernist tract homes for John Calder Mackay, and some builders mixed one or two modern models into otherwise traditional tracts.
11 to 16 clues
Many clues
The house shows much of what an original Eichler usually shows. That still isn't proof of who built it.
About the tract clue. It's the strongest one, but Palo Alto's guidelines note that a non-Eichler home can sit inside an Eichler neighborhood, and that pockets of one or two Eichlers exist outside the mapped tracts.
Clues, not proof. A confident answer takes two kinds of evidence: what the house shows you and what the records say. Only the records, starting with the recorded tract, confirm who built a house.
Clues that point the other way
These don't change the count. Tick any that apply to see why they matter.
The Green Gables nomination describes post-and-beam framing on a slab-on-grade foundation as standard in Eichler-built homes from 1950 on. Eichler's first houses, built under the Sunnyvale Building Company name, were stud-framed, so the oldest examples are the exception. Otherwise, a raised floor is a reason to dig deeper.
That points to stud framing. A statewide study notes that some builders mixed one or two modern models, often framed with studs rather than posts and beams, into otherwise traditional tracts.
An atrium alone proves nothing. A few builders adopted atrium plans in the later 1950s.
That describes a look. It doesn't tell you who built the house.
A few two-story Eichlers exist: Claude Oakland helped develop two-story designs, found in Palo Alto's Los Arboles Addition of 1972 to 1974. On an older tract house, a second story is more likely an addition, so check the permit history.
A caution doesn't rule a house out. It's a reason to check the framing, the permit history and the recorded tract before you rely on the count.
Remodeled isn't "not an Eichler"
Tick any changes you can see.
These tell you how much has changed, not who built the house. The Greenmeadow National Register survey counted shingles, stucco, brick, decorated front doors and new street-facing windows as alterations. Historic surveys rate houses "contributing" or "non-contributing," and in an Eichler tract a non-contributing house can still be an Eichler. Originality and provenance are separate questions, and both deserve answers.
What this tool can't do
It counts clues. It can't weigh them, see the house or read the records, so a remodeled Eichler can score low and a look-alike can score high. Only the records confirm a builder: the recorded tract first, then original plans and the city's permit file. Your ticks aren't saved.
- How to tell if a house is an Eichler: the six-step check
- Eichler architects: who designed which tracts
Questions about a specific house? Call or text the Boyenga Team at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606.