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Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres, Brisbane Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Brisbane's original town: the 1908 Visitacion City grid of small lots climbing San Bruno Mountain's east slope above Bayshore Blvd, plus the large hillside lots of Brisbane Acres.
Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres by the numbers
central brisbane & brisbane acres by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in central brisbane & brisbane acres · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
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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 (Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres came to be
Central Brisbane began as a land subdivision. A local history published in 1940 says the tract was opened in 1908 under the name Visitacion City, with streets laid out and graded and water and electricity brought in, and that the name Brisbane was chosen later because Visitacion City was too easily confused with a San Francisco district. The old name survives in county records: most parcels in the town grid are still described as lots and blocks of the amended City of Visitacion map (Recorded Survey Maps, book 6, page 45). The town incorporated as the City of Brisbane on November 27, 1961.
Brisbane Acres is the hillside along the south side of town. County legal descriptions call most of it Brisbane Acres, an unrecorded subdivision, and the city zones it R-BA, a single-family district with a 20,000-square-foot minimum lot. It sits inside the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan, run by county staff under a federal incidental-take permit issued in 1983, which lets some private land on the mountain be built on while core habitat for the mission blue, callippe silverspot and San Bruno elfin butterflies is conserved. Of about 170 parcels in the district, roughly 110, covering some 109 acres, have no street address in county parcel data: most of the zone is still open hillside.
The town center has changed in steps. The city's redevelopment agency bought the Community Park land on Old County Road in 1986 and funded street work on Visitacion Avenue, Plumas Street and San Bruno Avenue between 1995 and 2003. A new Brisbane Library opened at 163 Visitacion Avenue in October 2020. County records show small condominium buildings recorded downtown from 2004 to 2018.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The grid fills a bowl on the mountain's east slope. Visitacion Avenue and San Bruno Avenue climb southwest from their junction with Old County Road, and cross streets step up the hill between them: Mariposa, Monterey, Mendocino, Klamath and Alvarado. Higher up, Humboldt Road, Kings Road, Sierra Point Road, San Benito Road and Glen Park Way follow the contours around the bowl. Many names match California counties, among them Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino, Mono, Inyo, Tulare, Mariposa, Monterey, Solano, Plumas, Santa Clara, San Benito and Placer.
Lots are small. A single lot on the 1908 map is about 2,500 square feet by our measurement of county parcel maps, and about half of today's town-grid parcels combine two or more of them, so a house often sits on Lots 3 and 4 of a block. The city's R-1 district asks for 5,000 square feet and 50 feet of width for a lot, yet more than half of the R-1 house parcels are smaller (median about 4,500 square feet). R-1 allows one house per lot plus ADUs, 40 percent lot coverage and a floor area ratio of 0.72, and the city's summary says single-family houses skip design review. The R-2 blocks on Mariposa, Monterey, Solano and Inyo streets and the R-3 blocks along San Bruno Avenue, Thomas Avenue, Tulare Street and Plumas Street hold two-family and small multifamily buildings, and downtown's commercial zoning on Visitacion Avenue mixes homes with storefronts.
In Brisbane Acres, houses with street addresses sit on Joy Avenue, Gladys Avenue, Harold Road, Annis Road, Thomas Avenue, San Diego Court, Margaret Avenue, Paul Avenue and the upper ends of Humboldt and Kings roads. Their lots run from about 5,000 to about 68,000 square feet (median about 20,600), so some are smaller than today's minimum. A 20-unit condominium group on Joy Avenue is the district's one attached group. R-BA allows one house per lot, 25 percent lot coverage and a 35-foot height limit; clustered projects need a City Council use permit and must dedicate at least 40 percent of the site as conserved habitat.
streets in central brisbane & brisbane acres
- Visitacion Ave
- San Bruno Ave
- Old County Rd
- Bayshore Blvd
- Humboldt Rd
- Kings Rd
- Sierra Point Rd
- San Benito Rd
- Glen Park Way
- Alvarado St
- Klamath St
- Mendocino St
- Monterey St
- Mariposa St
- Santa Clara St
- Tulare St
- Solano St
- Inyo St
- Plumas St
- San Francisco Ave
- Trinity Rd
- Lake St
- Thomas Ave
- Joy Ave
- Gladys Ave
- Harold Rd
- Annis Rd
- William Ave
- San Diego Ct
- Margaret Ave
- Paul Ave
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres
- park
Community Park
At the center of town on Old County Road: the city's main playground, a gazebo, picnic tables and the Thursday farmers' market. The skatepark and two basketball courts are at Old County Road and Park Lane.
- landmark
Brisbane Library
A San Mateo County Libraries branch at 163 Visitacion Avenue, in a building finished in October 2020 with a courtyard mural designed with the community.
- shopping
Visitacion Avenue and Old County Road
The city zones downtown Visitacion Avenue and San Bruno Avenue as the Downtown Brisbane neighborhood commercial district and the Old County Road frontage by the Community Park as the Brisbane Village neighborhood commercial district.
- park
Firth Park
A small city park on Glen Park Way with picnic tables and a large grassy area.
- park
School fields
Fields at Lipman Middle School (1 Solano Street, with tennis courts) and Brisbane Elementary (500 San Bruno Avenue) are open for limited community use through Parks and Recreation; the community pool is next to Lipman.
- park
San Bruno Mountain State and County Park
The 2,416-acre county park borders and almost surrounds the city; its summit is 1,314 feet and its entrance is at 555 Guadalupe Canyon Parkway.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Central Brisbane and Brisbane Acres are in the Brisbane School District for elementary and middle school and the Jefferson Union High School District for high school (Census school-district maps and the city's school page). Brisbane Elementary (500 San Bruno Avenue) and Lipman Middle School (1 Solano Street) are both in this area; the district's third school, Panorama Elementary, is in Daly City. Jefferson Union has no high school campus in Brisbane; its district office is in Daly City. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with the districts.
Getting around
- Caltrain's Bayshore station (zone 1) is about 1.6 miles straight-line north of the Visitacion Ave and Old County Rd junction. Caltrain lists it at 400 Tunnel Ave with a San Francisco address, but the station sits inside Brisbane's city limit.
- SamTrans Route 292 (San Francisco, SFO and Hillsdale) serves Brisbane and stops at the Bayshore station along with Route 397 and Muni lines.
- Commute.org's free Brisbane-Crocker Park shuttle runs weekday commute hours between Balboa Park BART and Bayshore Caltrain.
- Bayshore Blvd is the town's east edge, and US 101 runs along the bay just beyond it; the Sierra Point Parkway exit is about 1.1 miles straight-line southeast of downtown (public maps).
- The Crocker Park Recreational Trail, a level 2.5-mile loop, circles the business park just north of town, and the Bay Trail and a 300-foot public fishing pier are at the Sierra Point marina, about 1.3 miles straight-line east of downtown.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres: what we check
Buying here
- Check the lot, not just the house. Many parcels combine two or three narrow lots from the 1908 map and many are under the R-1 district's 5,000-square-foot standard; ask the city's planning staff what the lot supports before you plan an addition, ADU or SB 9 split.
- Hillside height rules: R-1 height depends on slope (28 or 30 feet) and drops to 20 feet within 15 feet of the front lot line. Have a designer check the actual slope and survey before you count on a second story or a garage.
- Brisbane Acres is inside the San Bruno Mountain HCP. Building there must comply with the plan; a single new house on Thomas Avenue went through its own state-filed environmental review in 2005. Expect biological review of butterfly host plants, an operating program for the habitat, and a minimum 20,000-square-foot lot for new building. Much of the district is an unrecorded subdivision in county records, so get a survey and confirm access, water and sewer.
- Seismic maps: the state's liquefaction zone covers the lower downtown blocks (much of San Bruno Ave, Visitacion Ave, Monterey St, Mariposa St, Mendocino St and Plumas St), and earthquake-induced landslide zones cover parts of the hillside streets (Kings Rd, Humboldt Rd, Tulare St, Santa Clara St, Trinity Rd, Sierra Point Rd) and about half of the Brisbane Acres address points. Check the parcel; work in a mapped zone can require a geotechnical report.
- Fire: CAL FIRE's February 2025 map, as loaded in the city's GIS, puts the upper streets (Sierra Point Rd, Humboldt Rd, Kings Rd, San Benito Rd, Trinity Rd and most of Brisbane Acres) in a Moderate fire hazard severity zone; the downtown blocks are outside it. FEMA maps every address point here in zone X. Read the natural hazard disclosure for the parcel.
- Condominiums downtown and on Joy Ave are small associations; read the CC&Rs, budget and reserve study and check current dues.
Selling here
- Pull the county legal description and parcel map early: buyers will ask how many original lots the parcel holds and what its square footage is.
- Gather permits for additions, decks, retaining walls and ADUs, and any drainage or geotechnical reports; on a slope, buyers will ask for them.
- Order the natural hazard disclosure early and know whether the parcel is in the liquefaction, landslide or Moderate fire hazard zone, and, in Brisbane Acres, the HCP.
- Give buyers the straight-line distances that matter here: to Visitacion Ave, the library, the Community Park, the schools and the Bayshore Caltrain station.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Central Brisbane & Brisbane Acres questions, answered
Why are Central Brisbane and Brisbane Acres one guide?
They form one piece of the city: the 1908 town grid and the hillside district along its south side. The MLS files most sales as Central Brisbane (Visitacion returns the same listings) and a few as Brisbane Acres; the live listings cover all of it.
Was Brisbane once called Visitacion City?
Yes. A 1940 local history says the tract opened in 1908 as Visitacion City and took the name Brisbane later, and county records still describe most town-grid lots as part of the City of Visitacion map. The city incorporated on November 27, 1961.
Can a house be built on a Brisbane Acres lot?
Possibly, under the city's R-BA rules: a 20,000-square-foot minimum lot, one house per lot and compliance with the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan. Talk to the city's Community Development Department before you buy a vacant lot.
Which school districts serve central Brisbane?
Brisbane School District for elementary and middle school (Brisbane Elementary and Lipman Middle are both in town) and Jefferson Union High School District for high school. Boundaries change, so check the exact address with the districts.
Is central Brisbane in a flood zone?
FEMA maps every address point here in zone X. The items to check are seismic and slope maps (liquefaction downtown, landslide zones on parts of the hillside) and the Moderate fire hazard zone on the upper streets.
How far is Caltrain?
Bayshore station is about 1.6 miles straight-line north of downtown. SamTrans 292 and the free weekday Crocker Park shuttle both stop there.
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