{"nrhp_refnum":"04000862","name":"Greenmeadow","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Nelson Dr., El Capitan Pl., Adobe Pl., Creekside Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Palo Alto","county":"Santa Clara County","state":"CA","lat":37.409377821500044,"lon":-122.11150877747576,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-07-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Greenmeadow is a residential historic district in southern Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California, built in 1954-1955 by Eichler Homes, Inc. on about 73 acres. It has 243 single-story Mid-Century Modern houses plus a community center with a multi-purpose building, pool services building, pool and park.","why_significant":"The nomination presents Greenmeadow as one of the best-preserved and best-known Eichler developments, with 220 contributing buildings. It reflects Joseph Eichler's practice of building architect-designed modern homes for middle-class buyers, using designs by Jones and Emmons. The community center and Thomas Church's landscaping add to its planned-community character.","narrative":"Greenmeadow is a planned neighborhood of 243 single-story houses in southern Palo Alto, built in 1954 and 1955 by Eichler Homes on about 73 acres of its own land. The houses were designed by the firm of A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons in the Mid-Century Modern style, with exposed post-and-beam construction, slab-on-grade foundations, redwood plywood siding, and floor-to-ceiling glass at the rear. Street fronts are nearly blank to preserve privacy, and each house has a front-facing two-car garage. Six model types appear across the district. A 2.9-acre community center with a multi-purpose building, pool buildings, pool and park sits at its center, and Thomas Church designed the original redwood landscaping. Eichler stood out among postwar builders by consistently offering architect-designed modern homes to middle-class buyers despite resistance from lenders. About 92 percent of the buildings still contribute to the district's character, helped by an active architectural review committee.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons (Jones & Emmons), architects; Eichler Homes, Inc., builder; Thomas Church, landscape architect","architectural_style":"Other: Mid-Century Modern; Modern Movement","criteria":[],"status_note":"Homes remain in residential use and are largely well preserved; the community center is still used by the homeowners association and leased to a Montessori school. The pool was enlarged in the 1980s and is noncontributing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.641428-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/04000862.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000862/228efe9502-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000862/228efe9502-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:520_El_Capitan_Place,_Greenmeadow_Historic_District,_Palo_Alto,_CA_6-3-2012_4-45-54_PM.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:520_El_Capitan_Place,_Greenmeadow_Historic_District,_Palo_Alto,_CA_6-3-2012_4-45-54_PM.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861687","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenmeadow_(Palo_Alto,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18151085"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-clara-county/greenmeadow-04000862/"}