home / santa clara / briarwood
santa clara neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Briarwood, Santa Clara Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Mid-1950s ranch streets north of El Camino Real between Lawrence Expressway and Bowers Avenue, with Briarwood Elementary, Machado Park and Wilcox High inside and Lawrence Caltrain under a mile north.
Briarwood by the numbers
briarwood by the numbers · live from the mls
- for sale now…
- median list price…
- homes sold, last 12 months…
- median sale price, 12 mo…
- median price per sq ft, sold…
- sale price vs. list…
Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Briarwood: El Camino Real to Monroe St, Lawrence Expwy to Bowers Ave (approximate). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in briarwood · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Briarwood
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Briarwood from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
Loading listings…
Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (Briarwood: El Camino Real to Monroe St, Lawrence Expwy to Bowers Ave (approximate)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Briarwood came to be
Briarwood shares its name with Briarwood Drive and Briarwood Elementary, and it is mid-1950s Santa Clara almost from end to end. Between 1950 and 1960 the city grew from 11,702 to 58,880 residents, and the city's parcel records give about 2,150 of Briarwood's 2,280 single-family lots a build year in that decade. Rayanna Avenue, near El Camino Real, is the earliest (1950-1952). A large 1954 group followed in the western half: Briarwood Drive, Victoria Avenue, Fowler Avenue, Townsend Avenue, Jones Avenue, San Marcos Way, Bella Vista Avenue and the Santa Rosa, Santa Inez and Santa Barbara streets.
East of Calabazas Creek, 1955 brought a run of streets named for California places, among them Monterey Avenue, San Antonio Place, Santa Maria Avenue, Ventura Place, San Rafael Avenue and Santa Cruz Avenue, while Machado Avenue, Earl Drive and Bonita Avenue, back toward Lawrence, filled in around 1956. Mostly between 1957 and 1959 came the college streets in the northwest corner: Fordham Drive, Georgetown Place, Gonzaga Place, Creighton Place, De Paul Place, Regis Court, Rockhurst Court, Xavier Court, Bellarmine Court, Villanova Court, Notre Dame Drive, Marquette Street and Stanford Place. Nobili Avenue, the long north-south street beside them, shares its name with John Nobili, who in 1851 helped start the college that became Santa Clara University. County record maps file these college streets as Killarney Farms Units 1 to 6; the Killarney Farms neighborhood itself is south of Homestead Road and has its own guide.
Later infill came in small pieces: Saint Ignatius Place and a stretch of Flora Vista Avenue (1981), Cozumel Circle and Fargher Drive (1989), a cluster of small-lot homes around Kimberlin, Jamison, Kington, Litchfield, Lovell and Rutledge places near Calabazas Boulevard (1991-1993), Sunnydays Lane and Lawrence Place by the expressway (1998), and Lawrence Road (2018). Santa Clara Unified's district office is here too, at 1889 Lawrence Road.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Cabrillo Avenue and Warburton Avenue cross the neighborhood east-west, Machado Avenue runs past Machado Park, and Monroe Street forms the north edge. North-south, Nobili Avenue, Briarwood Drive and Flora Vista Avenue run up from El Camino Real on the west side, Pomeroy Avenue continues a few blocks north of El Camino, and Calabazas Boulevard follows Calabazas Creek through the east half. Lawrence Road and Lawrence Place run along the expressway's east side.
Lots are compact and regular: the single-family median is about 5,230 sq ft, the 1955 streets east of the creek run near 4,800, and Rayanna Avenue's 1950s lots are the big exception at about 9,100. About 89 percent of single-family houses are recorded as one story and about three-quarters as three-bedroom. Two-story houses are more common east of the creek on the 1956-1958 streets, such as Taper Avenue, Andrea Place, Jerald Avenue, Barkley Avenue, Mark Avenue and Warburton Avenue, where roughly a quarter to a half are recorded as two-story. Only seven single-family parcels carry a build year after 1990, so nearly all houses are original 1950s homes, remodeled to varying degrees.
The planned-development pockets, about 200 lots in all, are mostly small-lot homes from 1989 to 1998 tucked onto short places near Calabazas Boulevard and along Lawrence Expressway. The El Camino Real frontage is zoned for mixed use, falls inside the city's El Camino Real Specific Plan area, and already has new lots recorded as built in 2025.
streets in briarwood
- Nobili Avenue
- Briarwood Drive
- Flora Vista Avenue
- Victoria Avenue
- Fowler Avenue
- Townsend Avenue
- Cabrillo Avenue
- Warburton Avenue
- Machado Avenue
- Monroe Street
- Calabazas Boulevard
- Fordham Drive
- Georgetown Place
- Gonzaga Place
- Creighton Place
- Notre Dame Drive
- Stanford Place
- Xavier Court
- Villanova Court
- Cooper Drive
- Santa Cruz Avenue
- San Rafael Avenue
- Monterey Avenue
- Santa Maria Avenue
- San Juan Avenue
- Taper Avenue
- Mark Avenue
- Millar Avenue
- Barkley Avenue
- Francis Avenue
- Brown Avenue
- Rayanna Avenue
- Kimberlin Place
- Lawrence Road
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Briarwood
- park
Machado Park
About 2.6 acres at 3360 Cabrillo Avenue, next to Briarwood Elementary, with a basketball court, playgrounds and a restroom mapped in OpenStreetMap.
- park
Bowers Park
About 7.6 acres at 2582 Cabrillo Avenue, just east across Bowers Avenue, about 0.7 mile from the middle of the neighborhood.
- park
Central Park
The city's roughly 40-acre central park, with the Central Park Library and Community Recreation Center, is about 1.3 miles south down Kiely Boulevard.
- shopping
El Camino Real
The south edge is El Camino Real's commercial strip, including the Lawrence Square center at the northeast corner of El Camino and Lawrence Expressway and the Moonlite Shopping Center across El Camino at Kiely Boulevard.
- landmark
Lawrence Caltrain station
About 0.9 mile north of the middle of Briarwood, up Lawrence Expressway past Monroe Street. The platform is on the Sunnyvale side of the line.
- landmark
Calabazas Creek
The creek runs north through the east half beside Calabazas Boulevard. The city's parcel data flags very few lots here in FEMA's zone A, mostly the creek parcels themselves.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Briarwood is in the Santa Clara Unified School District for all grades; Census school-district maps put every block inside the outline in SCUSD. Public schools physically inside the area are Briarwood Elementary (1930 Townsend Avenue), Adrian Wilcox High School (3250 Monroe Street) and New Valley Continuation High School (1875 Lawrence Road), and Bowers Elementary (2755 Barkley Avenue) and Juan Cabrillo Middle School (2550 Cabrillo Avenue) are just east of Bowers Avenue. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with SCUSD's school locator before relying on a listing.
Getting around
- Caltrain: Lawrence station is about 0.9 mile north (straight-line) via Lawrence Expressway; its platform is in Sunnyvale. Santa Clara station is about 2.9 miles east.
- VTA Route 22 and Rapid 522 run on El Camino Real, Route 57 on Bowers Avenue (stops at Warburton, Cabrillo and Monroe) and Route 21 on Monroe Street. Check VTA for current schedules.
- Lawrence Expressway on the west edge reaches US-101 about 2.2 miles north and I-280 about 2.5 miles south (straight-line to the interchanges).
- El Camino Real on the south edge runs to downtown Santa Clara in one direction and Sunnyvale in the other.
- The San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail runs north-south along San Tomas Expressway, about a mile east.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Briarwood: what we check
Buying here
- Lots are compact (median about 5,230 sq ft), so if you are planning an addition, ADU or SB 9 project, check the city's current setbacks, lot coverage and parking rules for your parcel before you count on the extra space.
- About one in nine houses is recorded as two-story, more on the streets east of the creek. Match the permitted square footage and permit history to what you see, especially for second stories and garage conversions.
- The planned-development lots (Kimberlin, Jamison, Kington, Lovell and nearby places, Sunnydays Lane, Lawrence Place and Road) come with homeowner associations or development conditions. Read the HOA documents and CC&Rs.
- These are 1950s houses: expect the federal lead-paint disclosure and have the inspector look at the electrical panel, original plumbing, foundation and sewer lateral.
- If you are near El Camino Real or Lawrence Expressway, read the city's El Camino Real Specific Plan materials and check its development-project map; the corridor is planned for much more housing.
Selling here
- Lead with the location facts buyers can check: Caltrain under a mile north, El Camino Real transit, and the schools inside the neighborhood (with a note to verify assignments).
- Show lot size and any permitted additions clearly; on a street of similar 1950s houses, the updates and permits are what set one apart.
- For a planned-development home, have the HOA documents, budget and any special assessments ready before the first showing.
- Order a pre-listing inspection on 1950s systems (electrical, plumbing, foundation, sewer lateral) so repairs are priced before negotiations.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Briarwood questions, answered
Where is Briarwood?
North of El Camino Real between Lawrence Expressway and Bowers Avenue, up to Monroe Street, in ZIP 95051. Briarwood Elementary, Machado Park and Wilcox High School are inside.
How close is Briarwood to Caltrain?
Lawrence station is about 0.9 mile north of the middle of the neighborhood in a straight line, reached by Lawrence Expressway. The platform sits on the Sunnyvale side of the line.
Which school district serves Briarwood?
Santa Clara Unified for all grades. Briarwood Elementary and Wilcox High School are inside the neighborhood. Check the exact address with SCUSD, since boundaries change.
Why do so many streets have college names?
The 1957-1959 streets in the northwest corner carry college names such as Fordham, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Creighton, Villanova, Notre Dame and Stanford. County record maps file them as Killarney Farms Units 1 to 6; we found no record of who picked the names. Nobili Avenue shares its name with John Nobili, who helped start Santa Clara University's predecessor college in 1851.
Is the Miramar Way area part of Briarwood?
Not in this guide. Miramar Way and the courts around it sit west of Lawrence Expressway, across the expressway from Briarwood, in a separate pocket of Santa Clara.
talk to a property nerd
Thinking about Briarwood? Let's run your numbers.
Eric, Janelle and the Boyenga Team have sold more than 2,520 Silicon Valley homes, $2.6+ billion in all, since 1996. Get a value, a plan, or a straight answer about a street.
Questions about Briarwood? Send us a note.
