home / sunnyvale / murphy park
sunnyvale neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Murphy Park, Sunnyvale Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
The blocks just north of downtown Sunnyvale and the Caltrain tracks, Mathilda to Fair Oaks Avenue: small single-family streets, apartment rows, the old Hendy Iron Works plant and 5.4-acre Murphy Park.
Murphy Park by the numbers
murphy park 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 Murphy Park (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in murphy park · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Murphy Park
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Murphy Park from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
Get alerts for new Sunnyvale listings: open Sunnyvale in our full search and tap Save Search.
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 (Murphy Park (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
sold by the property nerds
Our sales near Murphy Park
None of the Sunnyvale sales we can match to MLS records since 2012 sit inside the Murphy Park outline, so these are our closest, measured from its edge.
All 96 of our Sunnyvale sales, on a map Selling in Murphy Park? Book a strategy call
the story
How Murphy Park came to be
This guide follows the City-registered Murphy Neighborhood Association, formed in 2020 and reporting about 200 households, and takes its name from Murphy Park, the 5.4-acre city park on North Sunnyvale Avenue near its middle. Two smaller registered associations sit inside it: Stowell/Orchard, with about 178 households, and Hazelheads, formed in 2015 with about 50. The Murphy name runs deep in Sunnyvale. According to the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum, Martin Murphy Jr. bought land in the Santa Clara Valley in 1849 and in 1861 allowed the new San Francisco-San Jose railroad to lay tracks across it; the town took the name Sunnyvale in 1901 and became a city in 1912.
The south edge of the neighborhood is industrial history. The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed the Hendy company's San Francisco mill, and the company moved its manufacturing to Sunnyvale, starting to rebuild that October. During World War II the plant grew to about four times its size, employed up to 11,500 people and built almost a third of the Liberty ship propulsion engines made in the U.S., according to the plant's own museum. Westinghouse bought the plant in 1947, it passed to Northrop Grumman in 1996, and it is still a Northrop Grumman plant at 401 E. Hendy Ave.
Murphy Park keeps a piece of that story. The City lists a restored Hendy Iron Works stamp mill, once used for gold mining, in the park alongside a lawn bowling green. Bishop Elementary, a few blocks north on North Sunnyvale Avenue, opened in 1950 and is named after Jarvis E. Bishop, according to the Sunnyvale School District's history.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Central Expressway splits the area east to west. North of it are the older single-family streets: Stowell, Orchard, Walnut and Chestnut avenues near Mathilda, Hazelton Avenue and Jackson and Schroeder streets around Bishop Elementary, and North Murphy Avenue, largely zoned R-0. The one listing record we read here, on North Murphy Avenue, is a 1942 two-bedroom house of about 790 square feet on a 5,200-square-foot lot with a crawl-space foundation and a detached bonus room, so ask about permits for any add-ons like that.
Zoning steps up at the edges. Along Mathilda Avenue it is R-4, with apartment complexes such as Peartree, The Montclaire, Sutton Place and Wildwood Manor, and Columbia, Lastreto and Taylor avenues near Fair Oaks carry R-3 multifamily zoning. South of Central Expressway, the blocks around Beemer and Angel avenues and North Frances and North Taaffe streets near Mathilda are zoned R-2 rather than single-family R-0, and Oak Court is a short R-0 cul-de-sac off North Sunnyvale Avenue.
The southeast part of the outline, between California Avenue, Hendy Avenue and Fair Oaks Avenue, is M-3 industrial land around the Hendy plant rather than housing; in our grid check of the City's zoning map it is about a fifth of the area. That leaves a mixed grid: single-family streets, small multi-unit buildings and apartments within a few blocks of each other, and of downtown.
streets in murphy park
- North Sunnyvale Avenue
- North Murphy Avenue
- Stowell Avenue
- Orchard Avenue
- Walnut Avenue
- Chestnut Avenue
- San Bernardino Way
- Hazelton Avenue
- Jackson Street
- Schroeder Street
- Taylor Avenue
- Columbia Avenue
- Lastreto Avenue
- Roosevelt Avenue
- North Bayview Avenue
- Morse Avenue
- Arques Avenue
- California Avenue
- Beemer Avenue
- Angel Avenue
- North Frances Street
- North Taaffe Street
- Oak Court
- Hendy Avenue
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Murphy Park
- park
Murphy Park
260 N. Sunnyvale Ave., 5.4 acres, open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The City lists a lawn bowling green, two horseshoe pits, two playgrounds including a tot lot for ages 5 and under, a restored Hendy Iron Works stamp mill, BBQ and picnic tables, and a meeting and event room with a kitchen.
- shopping
Sunnyvale Square
The shopping center at Mathilda and Maude avenues includes a supermarket on N. Mathilda Ave., about 0.5 mile (straight line) from Murphy Park.
- shopping
Downtown Sunnyvale
The 100 block of South Murphy Avenue, with storefronts built between 1900 and 1940, is about 0.4 mile south of Murphy Park in a straight line, across the tracks. Grocery and department stores on McKinley Avenue are downtown as well. See our Heritage District & Downtown guide.
- landmark
Hendy Iron Works plant and Iron Man Museum
401 E. Hendy Ave. The plant museum is inside this working Northrop Grumman facility, so check visiting arrangements before you go.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
The whole area is in the Sunnyvale School District (K-8) and the Fremont Union High School District on the California Department of Education's 2025-26 map, and the listing record we read shows the same. Bishop Elementary, a Sunnyvale School District school at 450 N. Sunnyvale Ave., is inside the neighborhood. Attendance boundaries change, so check any specific address with the district.
Sunnyvale School District guide · Fremont Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Caltrain: Sunnyvale station is about 0.35 mile (straight line) from Murphy Park and about 0.6 to 0.8 mile from the Stowell and Orchard blocks and the Mathilda-Maude corner.
- VTA buses: current route data shows route 55 winding through on Sunnyvale Avenue, California Avenue, Maude Avenue and nearby streets, routes 20 and 56 on Fair Oaks Avenue, and route 21 on Mathilda and Maude avenues. Check VTA's current map.
- Central Expressway crosses the neighborhood with interchanges at Mathilda Avenue and Fair Oaks Avenue. Mathilda Avenue reaches US-101 and SR-237 ramps about 0.7 mile north of Maude Avenue (straight line).
- Biking: the City's Active Transportation Plan map shows bike lanes on Maude Avenue east of Bayview Avenue and on North Sunnyvale Avenue, signed routes on Morse Avenue and on Sunnyvale Avenue south of Hendy, and proposed bike lanes on California Avenue.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Murphy Park: what we check
Buying here
- Check the zoning of the lot and its neighbors. R-0, R-2, R-3, R-4 and M-3 parcels sit within a few blocks of each other here; ask the City's planning division what is allowed, including ADU and SB 9 options.
- Know the industrial neighbor. The Northrop Grumman plant fills the southeast corner along Hendy Avenue. EPA's Superfund redevelopment list includes a 'Westinghouse Electric Corp. (Sunnyvale Plant)' site; ask whether that is this plant, read EPA's site documents and your environmental hazard disclosures, and check truck traffic and noise at different hours.
- For 1940s and 1950s houses, check the foundation, original wiring and panel, plumbing and sewer lateral, and pull permits for additions and detached rooms; pre-1978 homes come with a federal lead-paint disclosure.
- Central Expressway runs through the middle and the Caltrain tracks along the south edge; visit at commute hours and at night if you are near either.
- The City's flood-zone layer shows no mapped flood zone in this outline; confirm on FEMA's current map. A few parcels along Mathilda Avenue are in the Peery Park Specific Plan on the zoning map, so ask what is planned there.
Selling here
- Publish the real walking time to Sunnyvale Caltrain and the 100 block of South Murphy Avenue rather than a straight-line distance.
- Gather permits for any additions, garage conversions or second units before listing so buyers and appraisers count the same square footage.
- State the lot's zoning designation; on R-2 lots, buyers will ask what more can be built.
- Disclose proximity to the industrial plant and the expressway clearly and early, with the required disclosures in the packet.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Murphy Park questions, answered
Where is the Murphy Park neighborhood?
North of downtown Sunnyvale and the Caltrain tracks, between North Mathilda Avenue and North Fair Oaks Avenue, from Maude Avenue south to Hendy Avenue. Murphy Park itself is at 260 N. Sunnyvale Ave.
Is Murphy an official neighborhood?
It is a City-registered neighborhood association, the Murphy Neighborhood Association, formed in 2020. The smaller Stowell/Orchard and Hazelheads associations are inside the same area.
What is the stamp mill in Murphy Park?
The City describes it as a restored Hendy Iron Works stamp mill once used for gold mining. The Hendy company moved its manufacturing to Sunnyvale after the 1906 earthquake, and its plant still stands at the south edge of this neighborhood.
Which schools serve Murphy Park?
The area is in the Sunnyvale School District and the Fremont Union High School District. Bishop Elementary is inside the neighborhood on North Sunnyvale Avenue. Check any address with the district, since attendance boundaries change.
How far is Caltrain?
Sunnyvale station is about 0.35 mile in a straight line from Murphy Park and under a mile from each corner of the neighborhood we measured.
next door
More Sunnyvale neighborhood guides
talk to a property nerd
Thinking about Murphy Park? 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.
live market · sunnyvale
Sunnyvale right now
City-wide numbers read from the MLS each time this page loads. A neighborhood can trade differently from its city, so ask us for the sales on your street.
- homes for sale…houses, condos, townhomes
- new this week…by days on market
- median list price…of homes for sale
- median days on market…of homes for sale
- 12 months of sales…median sale price
Full Sunnyvale dashboard in Market Pulse →Offer Lab for SunnyvaleSunnyvale neighborhoods rankedWhat’s my home worth?Get early access
Listing data comes from the MLS through our IDX feeds and is shown as reported; it isn’t guaranteed. Repeat listings from overlapping feeds are removed, and land and mobile homes are left out.
Questions about Murphy Park? Send us a note.
