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san mateo neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
San Mateo Park, San Mateo Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
A 1902 subdivision of winding, tree-planted streets west of El Camino Real, between Barroilhet Avenue and the Hillsborough line, with 1920s houses on lots that often exceed 10,000 sq ft.
San Mateo Park by the numbers
san mateo park by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for San Mateo Park (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in san mateo park · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in San Mateo Park
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in San Mateo Park 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 (San Mateo Park (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How San Mateo Park came to be
San Mateo Park began as a real estate venture, not a farm tract. The city's 2026 historic context statement says developers Baldwin and Howell, the partnership of Archibald S. Baldwin and Josiah R. Howell, bought about 400 acres northwest of town that had been a horse ranch and then a country estate. In 1902 they hired civil engineer Davenport Bromfield to survey the land and design the subdivision.
Bromfield kept the estate's country feel: instead of a grid, the roads follow the rolling ground, and he planted shrubs and trees along them. The first San Mateo Park ran from El Camino Real west to Occidental Avenue and from Barroilhet Avenue south to Poplar Avenue; county parcel records show it grew through San Mateo Park Subdivisions No. 1, 2 and 3, plus smaller resubdivisions such as Pinecrest Terrace and the San Juan Tract. The neighborhood was built outside the city limits and annexed to San Mateo in 1909.
Building came in waves. Assessor years count about 150 houses from 1900 to 1919 and about 330 from the 1920s, with a median build year of 1926. Named architects worked here too: the context statement points to a 1924 house on Occidental Avenue designed by Julia Morgan and a house on Edgewood Road by Herbert Goodpastor. Both are private homes with no public access.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Streets curve and meet at odd angles. Poplar, Bellevue and Barroilhet Avenues run in from El Camino, while Occidental Avenue, Edgewood Road, Warren Road, Clark Drive, Costa Rica Avenue, Crescent Avenue, Hurlingham Avenue and Dorchester Road loop between them. Short connectors such as Hilltop Road, Midway Avenue, Hillcrest Road, Sycamore Avenue and Greenwood Avenue fill the gaps, and the west edge reaches Bromfield Road, Fulton Road, Glendale Road and Hillsborough Boulevard at the town line.
This is a single-family neighborhood. County assessor fields count about 780 houses, roughly 430 two-story and 345 one-story, on parcels with a median near 10,300 sq ft. The city's context statement lists San Mateo Park among the neighborhoods with Spanish Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival houses and a moderate concentration of French Eclectic ones, alongside early Bay Tradition designs. After the 1920s boom, infill came in the 1950s (about 70 houses) and again since 2000 (about 40), so a 1910s shingled house can sit next to a recent rebuild.
Apartments and condominiums stay on the El Camino Real frontage, where the zoning switches to R4. Everything else is R1-A, with a 10,000 sq ft minimum parcel and 75 ft minimum width (R1-B and R1-C elsewhere in the city allow 6,000 and 5,000 sq ft), so lot splits are uncommon and many lots are already near or above the minimum.
streets in san mateo park
- Poplar Avenue
- Bellevue Avenue
- Barroilhet Avenue
- Occidental Avenue
- Edgewood Road
- Warren Road
- Clark Drive
- Costa Rica Avenue
- Crescent Avenue
- Hurlingham Avenue
- Dorchester Road
- Midway Avenue
- Hillcrest Road
- Bromfield Road
- Fulton Road
- Sycamore Avenue
- Engle Road
- Hillsborough Boulevard
- Glendale Road
- Hilltop Road
- Chester Way
- Pinecrest Terrace
- Arlington Lane
- West Santa Inez Avenue
- El Camino Real
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near San Mateo Park
- landmark
San Mateo Park Elementary School
The neighborhood's public elementary school sits in the middle of it at 161 Clark Drive.
- shopping
Downtown San Mateo
B Street and the 3rd and 4th Avenue blocks are about 1.2 miles straight-line southeast, around the San Mateo Caltrain station.
- park
Central Park
The city's 16.3-acre Central Park at El Camino Real and 5th Avenue, with its Japanese Garden, tennis courts and playground, is about 1.3 miles straight-line southeast.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Census school-district maps put every San Mateo address in this area in the San Mateo-Foster City School District and the San Mateo Union High School District. San Mateo Park Elementary School is inside the neighborhood at 161 Clark Drive. Homes across the lines are in Hillsborough or Burlingame and their own districts. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
San Mateo Union High guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Burlingame Caltrain station (290 California Drive, Zone 2) is about 0.8 mile straight-line from the middle of the neighborhood; San Mateo station (385 First Avenue, Zone 2) is about 1.1 miles.
- SamTrans ECR (Daly City BART to Palo Alto Transit Center) connects at both stations and serves the El Camino edge.
- US 101 is about 1.3 miles straight-line east, reached by Poplar Avenue or Peninsula Avenue.
- State Route 92 is about 2 miles south via El Camino Real or Alameda de las Pulgas, for I-280 and the San Mateo Bridge.
- Inside the neighborhood the curving streets are local only; Poplar Avenue and Bellevue Avenue are the main ways out to El Camino.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in San Mateo Park: what we check
Buying here
- Check the jurisdiction. The Hillsborough and Burlingame lines wrap the west and north edges, and across them the ZIP is 94010 and the town or city rules, school district and services change. Use the county parcel record, not the mailing address.
- Trees are part of the deal. San Mateo protects heritage trees (oaks 10 inches or more in trunk diameter at 54 inches above ground, other species 15 inches or more), and removal or heavy pruning needs a permit, as does work on street trees. Map big trees before planning an addition.
- The city's slope-failure layer marks moderate potential across about a third of the addresses here, including parts of Costa Rica Avenue, Clark Drive, Bellevue Avenue, Occidental Avenue and Dorchester Road. Ask for a geotechnical review before adding a basement or second story on a slope.
- The city's GIS marks the whole neighborhood as a fire-retardant roof zone; CAL FIRE's 2025 local map classes it as non-wildland. Ask what roofing standard applies when you reroof.
- Houses from 1905 to 1940 may still have knob-and-tube wiring, original foundations and old sewer laterals. With R1-A lots, ADUs and the city's two-unit (SB 9) overlay rules may open options, so check municipal code chapters 27.19 and 27.21 for the specific lot.
Selling here
- Document the house's history: build year, architect if known, and original features, since the context statement ties named architects and revival styles to this neighborhood.
- Lot size matters on R1-A streets; have the parcel area and any recorded easements ready.
- Have tree records handy, including any heritage tree permits and arborist reports from past projects.
- Disclose the slope and fire-retardant roof zone status from the city's maps, and gather permits for past additions.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
San Mateo Park questions, answered
When was San Mateo Park developed?
Developers Baldwin and Howell had civil engineer Davenport Bromfield lay it out in 1902, and the area was annexed to San Mateo in 1909. Assessor records give a median house build year of 1926.
Is San Mateo Park in Hillsborough?
No. It is in the City of San Mateo, but the Hillsborough town line runs along its southwest and west edges and Burlingame is across Barroilhet Avenue. Some neighboring streets have 94010 ZIPs.
How big are the lots?
The median single-family parcel is about 10,300 sq ft, and the single-family zoning is R1-A, with a 10,000 sq ft minimum parcel and 75 ft minimum width.
Which schools serve San Mateo Park?
The San Mateo-Foster City School District and the San Mateo Union High School District. San Mateo Park Elementary is on Clark Drive inside the neighborhood; check the address with the districts.
Are there historic or design rules?
There is no historic district here. Houses can be individually listed or eligible under the city's historic preservation ordinance, updated in May 2026, and heritage trees and the city's single-family design guidelines apply to projects.
next door
More San Mateo neighborhood guides
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