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hillsborough neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Lakeview & Crystal Springs, Hillsborough Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
South Hillsborough's hillside streets between Black Mountain Road and Crystal Springs Road: Lakeview Drive, Tartan Trail and the Highlands' Scottish-named lanes, all single-family on lots of about half an acre or more.
Lakeview & Crystal Springs by the numbers
lakeview & crystal springs by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Lakeview & Crystal Springs (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in lakeview & crystal springs · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Lakeview & Crystal Springs
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Lakeview & Crystal Springs 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 (Lakeview & Crystal Springs (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Lakeview & Crystal Springs came to be
This corner of Hillsborough is shaped by water. The Crystal Springs reservoirs lie just west of I-280, and the Lower Crystal Springs Dam, built in the late 1880s under Spring Valley Water Company chief engineer Hermann Schussler and now owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, is about 0.2 mile straight-line past this guide's southwest corner. The American Society of Civil Engineers lists it as a historic civil engineering landmark. Below it, San Mateo Creek runs along the west side of Crystal Springs Road, the road that doubles as the town line here.
Hillsborough has no official neighborhoods, so this guide groups the recorded subdivision maps that county parcel records list for these streets: Crystal Springs Map No. 1A and Crystal Springs Unit No. 2 (Wedgewood, Kingswood, Oak Rim and Buckingham), Hillsborough Lakeview No. 2 (Lakeview Drive and its courts), Hillsborough Highlands in three units (Tartan Trail, Bairn, Glengarry and Inverness), Hillsborough Sunburst Park Estates (Falkirk, Rizal, Lydia, Braemar and Mirasol), Black Mountain (Southdown and Miranda), Kingswood Circle, a resubdivision of Woodridge, and the southern blocks of the older Hillsborough Park No. 2 map along Southdown Road. The MLS area names Lakeview, Crystal Springs, Hillsborough Highlands and Hillsborough Sunburst come from those maps. One naming trap: Hillsborough Highlands is a town subdivision, not the unincorporated San Mateo Highlands across Crystal Springs Road.
The town's rules set the pattern. Hillsborough's General Plan calls for a minimum lot size of half an acre and one single-family home per half acre, allows no commercial or industrial uses, and sends new homes and significant remodels to the Architecture and Design Review Board, which applies the town's Residential Design Guidelines. New lots are rare but not unheard of: in July 2020 the town approved an eight-lot vesting tentative map for Meadowood Estates, a vacant site of about 20 acres at Crystal Springs Road and Tartan Trail Road, and in August 2026 the City Council held a conceptual review of a revised two-parcel proposal for it.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Tartan Trail Road is the long spine: it leaves Crystal Springs Road on a bridge over San Mateo Creek and climbs west and north toward Black Mountain Road. Lakeview Drive runs from near Crystal Springs Road west to the Kingswood Drive and Wedgewood Drive junction, with short courts off it, and Wedgewood Drive tops out at Black Mountain Road on the west side. On the north end, Southdown Road loops between two points on Black Mountain Road, and Woodridge Road drops from Black Mountain Road down to Crystal Springs Road. The street names come in themed sets by map: the Highlands maps lean Scottish (Tartan Trail, Glengarry, Inverness, Braemar, Bairn, Bengloe, Plaid, Mercat), and the Lakeview No. 2 courts share names with Northern California lakes and reservoirs (Calaveras, Searsville, Pilarcitos, Berryessa).
Every home here is a detached single-family house. County parcel maps show about 510 home parcels with a median of roughly 0.55 acre; more than half fall between half an acre and three-quarters of an acre, about one in five measures under half an acre, and about one in seven is larger than an acre (map measurements, approximate). Census estimates for the larger tract that covers south Hillsborough put more than half of its homes in the 1950s through the 1970s, with newer houses from every decade since, so expect original houses next to rebuilds.
The ground matters on these streets. On CAL FIRE's 2025 Local Responsibility Area map, about 45% of lots here (by parcel center) are in a Moderate fire hazard severity zone and about 28% are in High, concentrated on Lakeview Drive, Wedgewood Drive, Tartan Trail Road, Kingswood Drive and Oak Rim Drive. The state's 2018 seismic hazard map for the San Mateo quadrangle puts roughly 30% of lot centers in earthquake-induced landslide zones, and the Alquist-Priolo zone for the San Andreas Fault lies just west of I-280, outside the town.
streets in lakeview & crystal springs
- Lakeview Drive
- Tartan Trail Road
- Wedgewood Drive
- Kingswood Drive
- Southdown Road
- Southdown Court
- Buckingham Way
- Oak Rim Drive
- Glengarry Way
- Inverness Way
- Falkirk Lane
- Rizal Drive
- Braemar Drive
- Bairn Drive
- Joyce Road
- Crystal Drive
- Berryessa Way
- Calaveras Court
- Searsville Court
- Pilarcitos Court
- Woodridge Road
- Black Mountain Road
- Crystal Springs Road
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Lakeview & Crystal Springs
- trail
Sawyer Camp segment, Crystal Springs Regional Trail
County parks' paved, two-way Sawyer Camp segment runs about 6 miles from Crystal Springs Road north to Hillcrest Boulevard, with parking and picnic areas off Crystal Springs Road and a 600-plus-year-old bay laurel midway. Public maps put its south end about 0.2 mile straight-line from this guide's southwest corner.
- landmark
Lower Crystal Springs Dam and bridge
Skyline Boulevard crosses the dam on a county bridge that reopened on January 11, 2019, with a separate section for Crystal Springs Regional Trail users. The SFPUC-owned dam dates to the late 1880s.
- open space
Woodridge (Southdown) open space
Town-owned, steep and mostly dense chaparral with some oak woodland and grassland, reached mainly through private lots off Southdown Road and Southdown Court. The town says its nine open space areas are not open to public access; it maintains fuel breaks there.
- shopping
Laurelwood center and downtown San Mateo
Hillsborough has no shopping. The nearest groceries are in San Mateo: the Laurelwood shopping center on West Hillsdale Boulevard at Campus Drive (public maps) is about 1.2 to 1.6 miles straight-line, and downtown San Mateo is about 2 to 2.6 miles.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Census school-district maps put every home in this guide in the Hillsborough City School District (elementary and middle schools) and the San Mateo Union High School District. No public school sits inside these streets; the district's West Hillsborough School is about 0.4 mile straight-line north of the Black Mountain Road end, and South Hillsborough School and Crocker Middle School are farther north in town. The town's General Plan names San Mateo, Aragon, Mills and Burlingame as the local public high schools. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
Hillsborough City Schools guide · San Mateo Union High guide
Getting around
- Caltrain: San Mateo station is about 1.9 to 2.6 miles straight-line and Hillsdale station (50 E. 28th Avenue, Zone 2) about 2.6 to 3 miles; Millbrae (BART and Caltrain) is a longer drive north.
- Crystal Springs Road runs west to Skyline Boulevard and I-280 by the dam and east and northeast toward Polhemus Road, SR-92 and downtown San Mateo (public maps).
- SamTrans Route 250 and the weekday CSM route run between the College of San Mateo and downtown San Mateo; the campus is about 0.8 to 1.2 miles straight-line east.
- The town scheduled an emergency repair of the Tartan Trail Road bridge over San Mateo Creek, with a full closure expected through winter 2026; its detour uses Crystal Springs Road, Skyline Boulevard, Golf Course Drive, Hayne Road and Black Mountain Road. Check the town's current projects page.
- Bikes and walks: the paved Sawyer Camp segment starts off Crystal Springs Road near the dam, about 0.2 mile straight-line from the southwest corner.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Lakeview & Crystal Springs: what we check
Buying here
- Confirm the city on every listing. Lots on this side of Crystal Springs Road are the Town of Hillsborough (ZIP 94010), but the Highlands across the road and Baywood Park to the east are unincorporated San Mateo County with San Mateo mailing addresses, county planning and a different elementary district.
- Look the parcel up on CAL FIRE's 2025 Local Responsibility Area map (the town introduced an ordinance adopting the state's zones in May 2025). About three-quarters of lots here map Moderate or High, which shows up in disclosures and can affect defensible-space work, construction standards and insurance; Central County Fire provides the town's fire service.
- Ask for geotechnical reports, retaining-wall history and drainage details: roughly 30% of lot centers fall in a state earthquake-induced landslide zone (CGS, 2018), and a few lots border San Mateo Creek.
- Hillsborough's Municipal Code requires the private sewer lateral to be inspected when a home is sold, and repaired or replaced if needed (town FAQ); find out who is ordering the inspection and who pays for any fix.
- Planning a rebuild or a big addition? Plan for the Architecture and Design Review Board and the town's Residential Design Guidelines, and confirm the actual lot size with a survey: about one lot in five here measures under half an acre on county maps.
Selling here
- Order the town-required sewer lateral inspection early so a repair does not hold up closing.
- Pull the permit and design-review history for past additions and rebuilds; buyers here ask about it.
- Get the natural hazard disclosure report early and document defensible-space and vegetation work, since many lots map in Moderate or High fire zones.
- Name the recorded subdivision (Hillsborough Lakeview No. 2, Hillsborough Highlands, Crystal Springs, Hillsborough Sunburst Park Estates) in the description so buyers searching by MLS area find the home, and say Town of Hillsborough plainly to avoid confusion with the San Mateo Highlands.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Lakeview & Crystal Springs questions, answered
Is Lakeview in Hillsborough or San Mateo?
These streets are in the Town of Hillsborough, ZIP 94010. Crystal Springs Road is the town line here: the San Mateo Highlands to the south and Baywood Park to the east are unincorporated San Mateo County with San Mateo mailing addresses.
What school district serves Lakeview?
Census maps put every home here in the Hillsborough City School District and the San Mateo Union High School District. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
How big are the lots?
County parcel maps show a median of about 0.55 acre, with more than half between half an acre and three-quarters of an acre. The town's General Plan sets a half-acre minimum for new lots, but some existing lots are smaller.
Is Lakeview in a fire hazard zone?
Much of it is. On CAL FIRE's 2025 Local Responsibility Area map about 45% of lots are Moderate and about 28% are High; the rest are classed non-wildland. Check the specific parcel and ask Central County Fire about defensible-space rules.
Where does the name come from?
From a recorded subdivision map, Hillsborough Lakeview No. 2, which covers Lakeview Drive and its courts. The Crystal Springs reservoirs are just west across I-280.
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More Hillsborough neighborhood guides
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