Professorville Historic District

Professorville is a neighborhood of 113 structures in Palo Alto, California, laid out as the home of Stanford University's early faculty. Timothy Hopkins subdivided the land in 1889 for Leland Stanford, and the site offered easy access to campus along Embarcadero Street. Most of the houses date from the late 1890s to the mid 1920s and range from one to two and a half stories. Brown-shingled Colonial Revival and Craftsman designs dominate, with Spanish Colonial Revival, Prairie, Tudor and other examples mixed in. Large lots and mature, traditional plantings give the streets a cohesive character that recalls Eastern and Midwestern cities, reflecting the origins of the professors who settled here. The district was listed for its association with the university's first instructors and, above all, for the consistent quality of its buildings and streetscapes. Notable houses include the Sun-Bonnet House at 1061 Bryant, designed by Bernard Maybeck, and the Varian House at 1044 Bryant. Six buildings are classed as intrusions.