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redwood city neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill, Redwood City Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
The grid west of downtown Redwood City around Sequoia High School and Stafford Park, plus Eagle Hill's knoll and its stone-named streets, between Whipple Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, El Camino Real and the Alameda.
Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill by the numbers
mount carmel & eagle hill by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in mount carmel & eagle hill · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill 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 (Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill came to be
Mount Carmel's anchor is a school built on an estate. Sequoia High School's own history traces its campus to a private estate first assembled in 1857. After the 1906 earthquake and several changes of ownership, Redwood City passed school bonds in 1920 to buy the land, and the Spanish Renaissance-style campus opened in 1924. Sequoia High, founded in 1895, now covers about 35 acres, and the campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The streets around it became a plain grid, and local reporting describes houses built across much of Redwood City's roughly 150-year history in a range of styles. That mix is why teardowns became a flashpoint: in July 2018, after eight houses were demolished and replaced with newer ones, the City Council asked staff to estimate the cost and time of a survey on whether Mount Carmel could become a historic district. We found no adopted district since.
West of Myrtle Street the grid bends around Eagle Hill, a knoll about 110 feet above sea level by USGS elevation points, with streets named for stones: Opal, Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz and Quartz. On its southwest corner, Kensington Square, about 13 acres of Upton Street and Alameda frontage between Harding Avenue and Jefferson Avenue, never joined the city. It is unincorporated San Mateo County, inside Redwood City's sphere of influence, with its own county sewer maintenance district formed in 1956.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Mount Carmel is the flat side: King, Iris, Jeter, Grand, Hudson, Lowell, Fulton and Elwood streets run between Whipple and Jefferson avenues, crossed by Hopkins, Brewster, Harrison and James avenues. USGS points put the ground at about 20 feet near El Camino Real and under 70 feet at the Alameda. County parcel maps repeat one lot size block after block, about 6,470 square feet, on Brewster, Iris, Jeter, King, Grand, Hudson, Lowell and Fulton; only about 6% of single-family lots in the combined area reach 10,000 square feet.
Together the two neighborhoods hold about 1,880 single-family parcels (about 110 coded for an accessory unit), 88 condominium parcels, about 50 small apartment buildings and several dozen two- to four-unit buildings, with the multifamily concentrated near El Camino Real and Jefferson Avenue. A city GIS layer flags about 96 Mount Carmel houses and 59 Eagle Hill houses as two-story, fewer than one in ten. A 2018 local walking survey described older one-story houses with detached one-car garages at the back of the lot as the long-time norm, with remodels and replacements steadily chipping away at it.
Eagle Hill's streets follow the contours, so Inner Circle, Outer Circle, Eagle Hill Terrace and Avenue Del Ora wrap the knoll, many blocks are irregular, and lots run a little larger than the Mount Carmel norm (medians around 8,000 square feet on Quartz Street, Saint Francis Street and Hopkins Avenue). The Hetch Hetchy water system's Bay Division pipelines cross the hill underground in a San Francisco Public Utilities Commission right-of-way, where permanent buildings are not allowed, so some lots include strips used only for yard, driveway or parking. Kensington Square's 78 lots, median about 5,500 square feet, are zoned R-1/S-7 by the county.
streets in mount carmel & eagle hill
- Whipple Avenue
- Brewster Avenue
- Hopkins Avenue
- Jefferson Avenue
- Myrtle Street
- King Street
- Iris Street
- Jeter Street
- Grand Street
- Hudson Street
- Lowell Street
- Fulton Street
- Duane Street
- James Avenue
- Harrison Avenue
- Hillview Avenue
- Nevada Street
- Topaz Street
- Quartz Street
- Sapphire Street
- Ruby Street
- Opal Avenue
- Inner Circle
- Avenue Del Ora
- Saint Francis Street
- Upton Street
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill
- park
Stafford Park
Redwood City's 1.6-acre neighborhood park at King Street and Hopkins Avenue has a restroom building, play equipment, a lawn and picnic tables.
- park
Street-triangle parklets
Small triangles sit where streets split, at Hopkins Avenue and Broadway, at Brewster Avenue and Arch Street across from Sequoia High, and the largest, with benches, at Brewster Avenue and Nevada Street on Eagle Hill.
- park
Red Morton Community Park
Red Morton Community Park, with the Magical Bridge Playground on Valota Road, is just south across Jefferson Avenue, about 0.6 mile straight-line from the middle.
- landmark
Sequoia High School
The 1924 Spanish Renaissance-style campus at 1201 Brewster Avenue, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- landmark
Eagle Hill
The knoll that gives the west half its name, about 110 feet above sea level by USGS points, with Inner Circle, Outer Circle and Eagle Hill Terrace curving across its slopes.
- shopping
El Camino Real and downtown
Shops and services line El Camino Real on the east edge. Downtown Redwood City's courthouse square is about 0.9 mile straight-line from the middle.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Census maps put Mount Carmel and Eagle Hill, including the unincorporated Kensington Square blocks, in the Redwood City School District and the Sequoia Union High School District. Several public campuses are inside the area: Sequoia High School (9-12) at 1201 Brewster Avenue; McKinley Institute of Technology (6-8) and North Star Academy (3-8), which share 400 Duane Street; and Orion Alternative (K-5) at 555 Avenue Del Ora on Eagle Hill, which the state lists as a school of choice. Living next to a campus does not mean it is your assigned school, and enrollment rules differ by program; attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
Getting around
- Caltrain: Redwood City station is about 0.7 mile straight-line from the middle and closer from the El Camino Real side.
- Bus: SamTrans ECR runs on El Camino Real; route 295 uses Jefferson Avenue, the Alameda and Brewster Avenue; some route 278 trips to Cañada College use Jefferson Avenue and the Alameda.
- US-101: the Whipple Avenue interchange is about 1.3 miles straight-line and Woodside Road about 1.8 miles.
- I-280: the Farm Hill Boulevard interchange is about 2.7 miles straight-line southwest.
- Bikes: Redwood City's bike map shows bike lanes on Jefferson Avenue (including a buffered stretch), Brewster Avenue and Whipple Avenue, and signed bike routes on Hopkins Avenue, James Avenue, King Street and Myrtle Street.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill: what we check
Buying here
- Liquefaction: every Mount Carmel address and roughly one in six Eagle Hill addresses (the lower edges) fall inside a state seismic hazard zone for liquefaction. It shows on the natural hazard disclosure; budget for a soils report on any rebuild or major addition.
- Flood maps: about 14% of Mount Carmel addresses, along Harrison Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, Grand, Clinton, Birch and Lexington, are in FEMA's shaded Zone X (0.2% annual chance) near the Arroyo Ojo de Agua channel. It does not trigger mandatory flood insurance, but check the panel for the address.
- Kensington Square is county: Upton Street and the Alameda frontage between Harding Avenue and Jefferson Avenue are unincorporated, so permits, zoning (R-1/S-7) and sewer (a county maintenance district) run through San Mateo County. Confirm jurisdiction on the tax bill.
- Remodels and teardowns: check the city's historic resources list (Sequoia High and two Hopkins Avenue houses are marked designated on the 2008 list) and current single-family design rules; larger projects get a Planning Commission hearing.
- Garages and easements: many older houses have a detached garage at the back, a common ADU candidate, so check permits on any conversion. On Eagle Hill, if a lot touches the SFPUC pipeline right-of-way, read the title report for the easement terms.
Selling here
- Give the lot facts: size (the standard Mount Carmel lot is about 6,470 square feet), depth, alley or rear access, and the garage's condition and permits.
- Gather permits for additions and garage conversions; buyers here compare remodels closely.
- Order the natural hazard disclosure early, especially in Mount Carmel, where every address is in the liquefaction zone.
- In Kensington Square, explain county jurisdiction and the sewer district up front so buyers are not surprised in escrow.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Mount Carmel & Eagle Hill questions, answered
Where is the line between Mount Carmel and Eagle Hill?
Myrtle Street. Mount Carmel is the flat grid east of it toward El Camino Real; Eagle Hill is the knoll west of it toward the Alameda. Both run from Whipple Avenue to Jefferson Avenue.
Is Kensington Square part of Redwood City?
No. The roughly 13 acres on Upton Street and the Alameda between Harding and Jefferson avenues are unincorporated San Mateo County, with Redwood City 94062 addresses, county zoning and a county sewer district formed in 1956.
Is Mount Carmel a historic district?
Not that we could confirm. In 2018 the City Council asked staff to scope a survey; we found no adopted district. A few properties, including Sequoia High School, are marked designated on the city's 2008 historic resources list.
What schools are in the neighborhood?
Sequoia High School, McKinley Institute of Technology, North Star Academy and Orion Alternative are all inside. The area is in the Redwood City School District and Sequoia Union High School District; check the exact address with the district for assignments.
How far is downtown and Caltrain?
Downtown's courthouse square is about 0.9 mile and Redwood City Caltrain about 0.7 mile straight-line from the middle, less from the El Camino Real side.
next door
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