atherton neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Lindenwood, Atherton Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
East Atherton's Flood estate tract: about 500 homes on curving, tree-named streets laid out after the Linden Towers mansion came down in 1936, with the old Flood gates still on Middlefield Road.
Lindenwood by the numbers
lindenwood by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Lindenwood (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in lindenwood · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Lindenwood
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Lindenwood 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 (Lindenwood (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Lindenwood came to be
Lindenwood is what became of Linden Towers, the summer place James C. Flood built east of Middlefield Road. The Town's centennial history sheet says architect Augustus Laver designed it, workers finished it in about two years, and contemporary journalists called it "Flood's Wedding Cake." Completed in 1880, it rose nearly seven stories with a 150-foot tower. Sources put the estate at 600 to 674 acres. The Town's history page lists Linden Towers among Atherton's early estates and notes that it is "now known as Lindenwood."
The family kept the place for two generations. In 1936 the mansion was demolished, a job that took more than three months, and the land was subdivided in stages. A hand-colored 1936 layout by James & Waters, subdivision engineers, arranges the new lots around a roundabout that later became Flood Circle; the Town's history page dates the Flood subdivision to 1938. In 1953 Eichler Homes began a high-end tract of about a dozen modern houses here, scattered among more traditional homes, but never completed it.
Pieces of the estate are still around. A 2005 survey for the Town inventoried Flood-era streetlamps, urns, benches and statues and found that part of Lindenwood could qualify as a National Register historic district. A 2018 local history piece lists the entry gates at Linden and James avenues and the brick wall along Middlefield Road, and says an elm President Ulysses S. Grant planted in 1880 still stands on the old driveway, now Flood Circle; in 1991 that tree won Atherton's first heritage tree award. A few estate outbuildings, including a barn, were remodeled into houses.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
You enter from Middlefield Road through the Flood gates at Linden Avenue or James Avenue, or from Marsh Road and Bay Road on the north. Inside, the streets curve and loop: James Avenue and Catalpa Drive wind across the tract, Flood Circle rings the center, and Greenoaks Drive runs toward the Ringwood Avenue side. Many street names are trees and shrubs: Catalpa, Larch, Laburnum, Hawthorne, Magnolia, Juniper, Acacia, Manzanita, Madrone, Toyon, Lilac and Wisteria. The Town notes that the gates allow only one car at a time, which slows traffic in and out of Linden Avenue and Middlefield Road. The south end, around Edge Road, Toyon Road, Madrone Road, De Bell Drive, Maple Leaf Way and the east end of Oak Grove Avenue, is part of the same quadrant and is included here.
This is Atherton's R-1A zone on the Town's zoning map. New lots must be at least one acre, and on a lot of an acre or more the house can be up to 18 percent of the lot area, about 7,840 square feet on a one-acre lot, with no more than 7.5 percent of the lot above the first floor. The standard height limit is 30 feet, with 60-foot front and rear setbacks. The 1953 Eichler houses and the remodeled estate outbuildings sit among more traditional houses, and at least one of the Eichlers has since been torn down and replaced.
Everything inside these lines is the Town of Atherton with 94027 addresses. Across Ringwood Avenue, Menlo Oaks is unincorporated San Mateo County with Menlo Park mailing addresses, so county rules apply there, not the Town's. Menlo Park is across Bay Road, and North Fair Oaks (also unincorporated) touches the Marsh Road side near Bay Road.
streets in lindenwood
- Middlefield Road
- Marsh Road
- Bay Road
- Linden Avenue
- James Avenue
- Flood Circle
- Catalpa Drive
- Laburnum Road
- Hawthorne Drive
- Irving Avenue
- Magnolia Drive
- Juniper Drive
- Acacia Drive
- Larch Drive
- Lilac Drive
- Deodora Drive
- Acorn Way
- Greenoaks Drive
- Lupin Lane
- Rosewood Drive
- Wisteria Way
- Manzanita Road
- Encino Road
- Parkwood Drive
- Lowery Drive
- Frederick Avenue
- Edge Road
- Toyon Road
- Madrone Road
- De Bell Drive
- Maple Leaf Way
- Elm Place
- Heather Drive
- Oak Grove Avenue
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Lindenwood
- landmark
Lindenwood gates
The Flood gates on Middlefield Road at Linden and James avenues. The Linden Avenue gate is 27 feet tall with two 16.5-foot openings and the Flood crest on top, and the Lindenwood Homes Association looks after the gates and decorates them through the year.
- park
Flood County Park
A 21-acre San Mateo County park at 215 Bay Road, just across Bay Road in Menlo Park, with picnic sites, sports courts, a paved bike pump track and big native oaks and bays. The first phase of a renovation opened June 7, 2025, and a new inclusive playground is under construction.
- park
Holbrook-Palmer Park
Atherton's only park, 22 acres at 150 Watkins Avenue, about 0.8 mile away across Middlefield Road (straight line), with walking paths, tennis courts, a ball field and gardens.
- landmark
Flood Circle elm
An elm on the old estate driveway, now Flood Circle, that received Atherton's first heritage tree award in 1991.
- shopping
Marsh Road at Florence Street
A small cluster with a market, coffee and a pizza place just across Bay Road from the Marsh Road corner, about 0.1 mile from the north tip (straight line). Downtown Menlo Park's Santa Cruz Avenue is about 1.2 miles southwest (straight line).
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Census school district maps put all of Lindenwood in the Menlo Park City School District (TK-8) and the Sequoia Union High School District. Two public campuses sit inside these lines: Laurel School's lower campus at 95 Edge Road, where the district filed in August 2026 to replace several buildings with a new two-story classroom and administration building, and Menlo-Atherton High School at 555 Middlefield Road. Encinal School is across Middlefield at 195 Encinal Avenue. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district (MPCSD has an online school locator).
Menlo Park City Schools guide · Sequoia Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Caltrain: Menlo Park station (1120 Merrill Street) is about 1 mile southwest of the middle of Lindenwood in a straight line. Atherton's own station closed in 2020.
- US 101: the Marsh Road interchange is about 1 mile north (straight line); Willow Road is about 1.2 miles east.
- Middlefield Road runs south to downtown Menlo Park and Palo Alto and north to Redwood City; El Camino Real is about a mile west.
- I-280 is about 4 miles southwest in a straight line, by way of Sand Hill Road or Woodside Road.
- Bus: SamTrans route ECR (Daly City BART to Palo Alto Transit Center) runs on El Camino Real.
- Bike: Atherton signs shared-lane bike routes on Watkins Avenue and Dinkelspiel Station Lane, across Middlefield; the Town has studied adding bike lanes on Watkins.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Lindenwood: what we check
Buying here
- Zoning is R-1A: new lots need at least one acre, floor area tops out at 18 percent of a one-acre-plus lot, the upper floor at 7.5 percent of the lot, and height at 30 feet. Confirm the current numbers and any lot-specific limits with the Town's planning staff before you price a rebuild.
- Native oaks with a trunk of 48 inches around (15.2 inches across) at 54 inches above grade are heritage trees anywhere on the lot, and other trees that size are protected outside the main buildable area. Get an arborist's tree map before you plan an addition or a new house.
- Ask whether the street is public or private and what the Lindenwood Homes Association does and asks of owners; the Town does not maintain private streets, and owners keep up the landscaping and trees in the frontage strip by their lot. Sewer service comes from West Bay Sanitary District or Fair Oaks Sanitary depending on the address, so find out which and inspect the lateral on an older house.
- Atherton's 2023-2031 Housing Element added multifamily overlay zoning on a short list of sites, and a 2024 version included four lots along Bay Road and Ringwood Avenue. Check the adopted zoning map for the lot you are buying and its neighbors.
- FEMA maps almost all of Lindenwood as Zone X (minimal flood hazard), but a 0.2-percent-annual-chance area reaches the Bay Road edge and the Atherton Channel runs along Marsh Road. Check the FEMA map for the exact parcel.
Selling here
- Buyers here price the land and the building envelope. Have the lot area, existing floor area and any survey ready so they can run the 18 percent math themselves.
- Order an arborist report early. Heritage oaks shape where a future house can go, and buyers will ask.
- If the property has a Flood-era wall, urn or a remodeled estate outbuilding, document it; the Town's 2005 survey covered artifacts on private lots too.
- Atherton allows construction only on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., not on holidays, so schedule pre-listing work with that in mind, and expect questions about the sewer provider and any private-street maintenance.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Lindenwood questions, answered
Is Lindenwood a gated community?
No. The gates are the old Flood estate entrance, not security gates. A Lindenwood Homes Association history quoted in 2018 says the Linden Avenue gate has never been closed.
Is Lindenwood part of Menlo Park?
No. Lindenwood is the Town of Atherton with 94027 addresses. Menlo Oaks, across Ringwood Avenue, is unincorporated San Mateo County with Menlo Park addresses, and the city of Menlo Park is across Bay Road.
What is left of Linden Towers?
The mansion was demolished in 1936. The gates on Middlefield Road, the brick wall along Middlefield, scattered urns, lamps, benches and statues, the elm on Flood Circle and a few remodeled outbuildings remain. One of the estate's fountains survives on private property in Atherton.
Which school districts serve Lindenwood?
Menlo Park City School District and Sequoia Union High School District, per Census district maps. Laurel School's lower campus and Menlo-Atherton High are inside the area. Check the exact address with each district.
Can I split a Lindenwood lot?
Atherton's R-1A zone requires at least one acre for new lots, and lots here are typically about an acre. State law (SB 9) has its own lot-split rules, so ask the Town's planning staff about a specific parcel.
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