South Bay Mid-Century Communities
Los Altos | Palo Alto | Sunnyvale | Cupertino

The South Bay’s mid-century modern footprint is innovation-driven.

Unlike the hillside modernism of San Francisco, these communities were:

The result: the largest and most architecturally unified concentration of mid-century modern homes in Northern California.

Palo Alto contains the highest concentration of original Eichler homes anywhere.

Key characteristics:

Neighborhoods such as Green Gables, Fairmeadow, and Palo Verde represent textbook California modernism at scale.

Positioning:
This is the most historically significant mid-century market in the South Bay.

Sunnyvale offers one of the largest contiguous Eichler footprints with relatively more accessible pricing (by Peninsula standards).

Built primarily:

What stands out:

Sunnyvale often represents the best value-per-square-foot in preserved Eichler communities.

Los Altos is less tract-heavy and more custom modernist in character.

Typical profile:

Market dynamic:

This is luxury-leaning modernism, not pure tract modern.

Cupertino’s mid-century presence is smaller and more fragmented but still meaningful.

Characteristics:

Inventory is limited, but demand remains structurally strong due to location fundamentals.

Structural advantages:

True scarcity of intact Eichler inventory
High replacement cost vs. original build
Strong cultural cachet in Silicon Valley
Limited new supply of authentic mid-century product
While San Francisco modernism is view-driven and topographically constrained, South Bay modernism is scale-driven, culturally embedded, and tightly linked to Silicon Valley wealth creation — a combination that continues to support long-term price resilience.

South Bay Mid-Century CommunitiesLos Altos | Palo Alto | Sunnyvale | Cupertino