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santa clara neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Old Quad, Santa Clara Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Santa Clara's original town: the angled street grid around Santa Clara University and the old downtown, where 1860s to 1920s cottages and bungalows share blocks with postwar tracts and newer townhomes.
Old Quad by the numbers
old quad by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Old Quad: Scott Blvd, Newhall St, the railroad and the San Jose line (approximate). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in old quad · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Old Quad
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Old Quad from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
Get alerts for new Old Quad listings: open this neighborhood in our full search and tap Save Search.
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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 (Old Quad: Scott Blvd, Newhall St, the railroad and the San Jose line (approximate)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Old Quad came to be
The Old Quad is where Santa Clara started. The town grew up around Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and Santa Clara University's archives hold a plat titled A Plot of the Town of Santa Clara, drawn by William Campbell in October 1847. A 1922 county history says Campbell surveyed the town site in 1850 into lots a hundred yards square, and each settler got a lot on the promise to build a house on it within three months. The same history says Peleg Rush shipped 23 houses from Boston that year and set them up in town. Santa Clara College, today's Santa Clara University, opened on the old mission grounds in 1851, and the town was incorporated on July 5, 1852. A city dedication plaque puts the new town at about 2,000 acres and 200 people, and says the square shape of those original town limits is still known as the Old Quad.
The railroad came next. The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad built the Santa Clara depot in late 1863, and that building, rebuilt and restored, still serves riders at today's Santa Clara Transit Center. From the 1860s into the 1920s the grid filled in with Italianate and Greek Revival cottages, Queen Anne and Stick/Eastlake houses, Colonial Revival homes and Craftsman bungalows. The city's GIS inventory of historic properties shows how much of that survives here: 341 of its 365 entries sit inside these lines, and 146 of the 312 entries with a date were built before 1900. Two are on the National Register: the 1875 Andrew J. Landrum House on Santa Clara Street, which mixes Italianate and Gothic Revival details, and the 1892 Morse Mansion on Fremont Street.
The 20th century reshaped the middle and the edges. Postwar tracts filled the open land inside the old lines, starting with Monastery Gardens in 1946. In September 1961 the city council voted to clear the eight-block downtown grid for urban renewal; demolition was finished in 1965, and only the two-block Franklin Mall was built in its place. In 1989 The Alameda was rerouted to unify the Santa Clara University campus. In 2018 the city held community meetings on a possible Old Quad zoning overlay covering single-family design, parking, historic homes and group living rules, so ask the Planning Division where that work stands.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The core is the old town grid, set at an angle to north: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Main, Lincoln and Lafayette run one way, and Fremont, Harrison, Franklin, Benton, Homestead, Lexington, Santa Clara, Market and Bellomy cross them. The later tracts at the edges switch to north-south streets and curves. Recorded tract maps from 1946 and 1952 call the street along the west and south edges Gould Street, on the alignment of today's Scott Boulevard and the west end of Newhall Street, and the 1952 Westwood map draws the Santa Clara city limit along it.
City parcel data counts about 4,090 parcels inside these lines. About 2,240 are zoned single-family, and their build years tell the story: 581 before 1930, about 1,290 from the 1940s and 1950s, and only 29 from 2000 on. The median single-family lot is about 6,100 square feet, and most houses are one story. In the city's historic inventory, Queen Anne houses and cottages are the most common style (about 70 entries), followed by Colonial Revival and Craftsman.
The rest is a mix. About 840 parcels are townhomes and condos in planned developments, mostly from the 1970s on; 269 of the 360 parcels built in 2000 or later sit north of El Camino Real toward the tracks. About 550 parcels are zoned R3 for apartments, mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, and El Camino Real carries mixed-use zoning. Over the years some single-family houses here have been converted into group living arrangements (a 2018 local news report), so permit history and legal use deserve a close look on any house here.
streets in old quad
- Scott Boulevard
- Newhall Street
- El Camino Real
- The Alameda
- Benton Street
- Franklin Street
- Homestead Road
- Lexington Street
- Santa Clara Street
- Market Street
- Bellomy Street
- Harrison Street
- Fremont Street
- Lewis Street
- Washington Street
- Jefferson Street
- Madison Street
- Monroe Street
- Main Street
- Lincoln Street
- Jackson Street
- Lafayette Street
- Alviso Street
- Warburton Avenue
- Reed Street
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Old Quad
- landmark
Santa Clara University
Founded as Santa Clara College in 1851; the campus now covers more than 106 acres, part of it across the line in San Jose. The de Saisset Museum on campus holds art and California history collections.
- landmark
Harris-Lass House Museum, 1889 Market Street
An 1865 farmhouse, enlarged in the 1890s, with a barn, summer kitchen, tank house, gardens and a heritage orchard. The museum calls it the last farm site in the city; the city owns it and the nonprofit Historic Preservation Society of Santa Clara runs it.
- landmark
Santa Clara Transit Center, 1001 Railroad Avenue
The depot dates to late 1863. Caltrain, ACE and Capitol Corridor trains stop here, and it is planned as the end of BART's Silicon Valley Phase II, with opening listed for 2036.
- landmark
Triton Museum of Art and the Civic Center
The Triton's 1986 building sits on Warburton Avenue at the Civic Center, and the city's inventory lists the 1866 Jamison-Brown House and the 1920 Headen-Inman House at the same campus.
- park
Fremont, Marsalli, Washington and City Plaza parks
City GIS lists Fremont Park at 1303 Fremont St (about 2.1 acres, beside the Santa Clara Senior Center), Larry J. Marsalli Park at 1401 Lafayette St (about 4.3 acres), Washington Park at 270 Washington St (about 3.4 acres) and City Plaza Park at 1098 Lexington St (about 1.6 acres).
- shopping
Franklin Street and El Camino Real
The two-block Franklin Mall is what was built after the 1960s downtown clearance, and El Camino Real carries most of the shops. Santa Clara Town Centre sits just across Scott Boulevard at El Camino Real.
- landmark
Historic home tour
The Historic Preservation Society of Santa Clara runs a historic home tour with help from the Old Quad Residents' Association; local coverage dates it to the 1970s.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
The Old Quad is in the Santa Clara Unified School District; Census TIGER school-district boundaries place nearly every parcel inside these lines in it. Public schools inside the lines include Washington Open Elementary (270 Washington St), Scott Lane Elementary (1925 Scott Blvd), Buchser Middle School (1111 Bellomy St) and the district's campus at 1840 Benton St, home to Wilson Alternative and adult education programs. Santa Clara High School is on Benton Street about 1.2 miles west of Scott Boulevard (straight-line). Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with the district.
Getting around
- Santa Clara Transit Center (Caltrain, ACE and Capitol Corridor) sits on the northeast edge next to the university, about 0.7 mile from the middle of the neighborhood (straight-line).
- VTA Rapid 522 and Route 22 run on El Camino Real; Routes 21, 53, 59 and 60 serve the Transit Center, and Route 60 continues to San Jose airport.
- BART's Silicon Valley Phase II is planned to end at the Santa Clara Transit Center, with opening listed for 2036.
- I-880 is about 1.1 miles east of the center, US-101 about 2 miles north and I-280 about 2.1 miles south (all straight-line).
- The short grid blocks make walking and biking practical between Franklin Street, the university and the station; El Camino Real, The Alameda and Scott Boulevard are the busy edges.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Old Quad: what we check
Buying here
- Check whether the house is on the city's historic list. City GIS flags 203 parcels here as historic resources, another 118 as Mills Act properties and about 1,740 as within 200 feet of a historic resource, so ask the Planning Division what review applies before you plan exterior changes or a second story.
- If the house is one of the 118 flagged Mills Act properties, remember that a Mills Act contract stays with the property and binds the next owner to restore and maintain it under preservation standards, so get the contract and its maintenance schedule and ask the county assessor how it affects taxes.
- On pre-1930 houses, budget inspection time for foundations, older wiring, plumbing and the sewer lateral, and compare the house to the permit record, since older additions and converted rooms are common in houses this age.
- Zoning changes block by block, from R1-6L single-family to R2, R3, planned developments, mixed-use and downtown zones. Look up the parcel and its neighbors on the city zoning map, and check the El Camino Real Specific Plan and Downtown Precise Plan areas, which city GIS lists as not yet adopted.
- Most parcels are in FEMA Zone X, but city data maps a few dozen in Zones AH and AO near the tracks and at the north end of Scott Boulevard. Pull the flood map for the address, and expect train noise near the tracks and construction planning around the station.
Selling here
- Pull the city's historic inventory entry for the house (style and construction date) and any older photos you have; buyers here ask about history, and an accurate date beats a guess.
- If the house has a Mills Act contract, have the contract, the most recent inspection and the tax bills ready to share early.
- Gather permits for additions, second units and system upgrades; on older houses a clean permit trail answers the first question most buyers' inspectors raise.
- Spell out distances that matter here, stated as approximate: the Transit Center, Santa Clara University, Franklin Street and El Camino Real are all within about a mile of most of the grid.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Old Quad questions, answered
Where are the Old Quad's boundaries?
This guide uses the lines from the earlier Old Quad page: Scott Boulevard on the west, Newhall Street on the south and the Caltrain tracks on the north and northeast. Newhall Street turns into San Jose before it reaches the tracks, so the east edge here is the Santa Clara city line. The city's own neighborhood map may draw it differently, so check a specific address.
Why is it called the Old Quad?
A city dedication plaque says the square shape of the original town limits, set when Santa Clara was incorporated in 1852, is still known as the Old Quad. The town site had been surveyed into lots in 1850, according to a 1922 county history.
How old are the houses?
It depends on the block. City parcel data shows 581 single-family houses built before 1930, mostly on the old grid, about 1,290 from the 1940s and 1950s, and a few dozen from 2000 on. Townhomes and condos, mostly from the 1970s on, cluster north of El Camino Real and near the edges.
How can a buyer tell if a house is historic or has a Mills Act contract?
Look the parcel up on the city's historic resources map and ask the Planning Division. City GIS flags 203 parcels inside these lines as historic resources and 118 as Mills Act properties. A Mills Act contract runs with the property, so a buyer takes on its terms.
Which schools serve the Old Quad?
The Old Quad is in the Santa Clara Unified School District. Washington Open Elementary, Scott Lane Elementary and Buchser Middle School are inside the lines. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with the district.
next door
More Santa Clara neighborhood guides
From the blog: BART to Downtown San Jose and Santa Clara · Best Santa Clara Neighborhoods
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Thinking about Old Quad? 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.
on the home styles field guide
Home styles in Old Quad
Old Quad shows up on these plates in our home styles field guide. Each plate shows how to spot the style from the sidewalk, with live listings opened to Santa Clara.
- plate 01c. 1870s–1910sVictorian & EdwardianItalianate and Greek Revival cottages, then Queen Anne and Stick/Eastlake houses, from the 1860s on.open the plate and live listings →
- plate 02c. 1905–1930Craftsman & bungalowCraftsman bungalows among Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses from the 1860s into the 1920s.open the plate and live listings →
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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
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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.
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