Anshen & Allen, Jones & Emmons or Claude Oakland? How to Tell Who Designed Your Eichler

Three architecture firms designed the Eichlers you’ll see most often in Silicon Valley: Anshen & Allen, Jones & Emmons and Claude Oakland. Each left fingerprints on the plans. Here’s how to tell them apart, and how to confirm what you think you’re seeing.

Anshen & Allen (Eichler’s architects, 1950–1960)

Robert Anshen and Stephen Allen’s San Francisco firm designed Eichler’s first architect-designed model, the AA-1, in 1950. The Green Gables National Register nomination describes the system: post-and-beam framing on a four-foot module, Douglas fir plank roofs, radiant heat in the slab, and a 16-foot span over one open living, dining and kitchen space. From the street the houses show a mostly blank wall and a garage or carport; the glass faces the back patio.

Where to see them: Green Gables, Greer Park and El Centro Gardens in Palo Alto, all from 1950–1951. More in the Anshen & Allen builder file.

Jones & Emmons (from 1951)

A. Quincy Jones and Frederick Emmons began designing for Eichler in 1951 with the Ladera homes in Portola Valley, Eichler’s first split-level and two-level designs. The Greenmeadow National Register nomination credits the firm with about 5,000 of Eichler’s roughly 11,000 California homes. At Greenmeadow (1954–1955) the houses average about 1,600 square feet, with walled front courts, two-car garages and flat or low-pitched roofs without attics.

Where to see them: Greenmeadow, Triple El and Edgewood in Palo Alto, and Ladera. More in the Jones & Emmons builder file.

Claude Oakland (inside Anshen & Allen, then his own firm, 1960–1974)

Claude Oakland joined Anshen & Allen in 1950 and became the principal designer of Eichler homes there, according to UC Berkeley’s Environmental Design Archives. In 1960 he took the Eichler account to his own firm and kept designing for Eichler until 1974. His later models are the easiest to spot: steep gables over the front and rear wings with an open-air atrium between, or a flattened central gable broken around the atrium; roofed galleries and loggias; and, in some late models, prow-shaped bays.

Where to see them: Fallen Leaf Park in Los Altos (1967–1969), and in Palo Alto, Midcourt (1972), Community Center (1973) and Torreya Court in Los Arboles (1974). More in the Claude Oakland builder file.

Three myth checks

• Not every early Eichler is architect-designed. Eichler’s first tracts in 1949, such as University Gardens in Palo Alto, were drawn by a draftsman remembered only as Castor, per the City’s Eichler guidelines and an Eichler history publication.
• The name on the plans can mislead. From 1950 to 1960 Oakland designed inside Anshen & Allen, so models from those years carry that firm’s name.
• The atrium has more than one parent. Ned Eichler and a former Anshen & Allen draftsman credit Bob Anshen with the idea and the name, a 1955 Jones & Emmons plan led to the larger atrium models, and Eichler began marketing the atrium in 1957–1958, according to an Eichler history publication.

How to confirm the architect

Start with the tract. Palo Alto’s 2018 Eichler Neighborhood Design Guidelines list the architects tract by tract; National Register nominations cover Green Gables, Greenmeadow and San Jose’s Fairglen Additions; and original permits or plans sometimes carry the firm’s name. Our guide to finding who built a house walks through the records, and our Silicon Valley Eichler tract index lists the architect for every tract where one is documented.

Own an Eichler or hoping to buy one? Call the Boyenga Team at (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.