atherton neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Selby Lane & Almendral, Atherton Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Northwest Atherton between El Camino Real and the Redwood City line: Selby Lane, Almendral and Tuscaloosa avenues and the Polhemus side streets, mostly on lots of about an acre.
Selby Lane by the numbers
selby lane by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Selby Lane (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in selby lane · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Selby Lane
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Selby Lane 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 (Selby Lane (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Selby Lane came to be
Before there was a town, the land around the Fair Oaks railroad flag stop was a string of summer estates owned by San Franciscans. One of the largest belonged to Thomas H. Selby, mayor of San Francisco from 1869 to 1871. The Town's history page says Selby bought more than 400 acres and named the estate Almendral, after the street in Valparaiso, Chile, where Faxon Atherton had lived. The Town's history does not map the estate's boundaries, but Almendral Avenue and Selby Lane carry those names through this corner of town.
The estates did not last. According to the Town's history, a few large holdings were subdivided in the 1920s and 1930s, and more than 80 subdivisions were recorded in the 1940s and 1950s, which closed the estate era. The Town had incorporated on September 12, 1923, to stay residential, and the zoning still shows it: the R-1A district requires a one-acre minimum for new subdivisions, and county parcel maps put the typical lot here at about an acre.
The edges are a jurisdictional patchwork: Redwood City streets such as Whitehall Lane to the north, unincorporated Sequoia Tract (West Selby Lane, Santiago, Nimitz and Beresford avenues, mostly with Redwood City 94061 mailing addresses) to the west, and unincorporated North Fair Oaks across El Camino at the north end. That is why the Town's study of the El Camino Real and Selby Lane intersection has involved Caltrans, the county and Redwood City.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Selby Lane is the spine, and it is shaped like an L. From El Camino Real at the Redwood City line it runs southwest for about 1.3 miles to West Selby Lane, then turns southeast for about 0.9 mile, crossing Stockbridge Avenue, Almendral Avenue and Tuscaloosa Avenue on its way to Atherton Avenue (approximate lengths measured on Census street maps). Almendral, Tuscaloosa and Stockbridge avenues run in from El Camino, Austin Avenue links Selby Lane, Stockbridge and Almendral, and short lanes and cul-de-sacs such as Adam Way, Patricia Drive and Ralston Road sit between them. South of Selby Lane's southeast leg, Polhemus, Marymont, Euclid and Parker avenues fill the strip between Stockbridge and Atherton avenues. The ground rises gently, from about 40 feet above sea level near El Camino and Selby Lane to about 140 feet at the Alameda corner (USGS elevation points).
County parcel maps count about 670 single-family lots here, with a median close to one acre; most streets run from about 0.9 to 1.1 acres a lot. Two pockets are much smaller. Middlegate, Northgate and Southgate streets and Park Drive, by Almendral Avenue near El Camino, are lots of about 0.15 acre (roughly 6,500 square feet). Parker Avenue, off Stockbridge, has lots of about 0.18 acre and its own zoning overlay, adopted in 2010 (Ordinance 587), written for what the code calls a large cluster of small lots on a 70-foot-wide street. The overlay allows more floor area than the base zone, with a 28-foot height limit.
Everything here is detached single-family housing, and about one in ten single-family parcels carries an assessor code for an ADU. The base R-1A rules shape what you see from the street: main buildings are limited to 30 feet (34 with a special structure permit), floor area on a lot of an acre or more is capped at 18% of the lot, and front and rear setbacks are 60 feet on most lots, so houses sit well back behind hedges and trees.
streets in selby lane
- Selby Lane
- Almendral Avenue
- Tuscaloosa Avenue
- Stockbridge Avenue
- Austin Avenue
- Atherton Avenue
- El Camino Real
- Adam Way
- Patricia Drive
- Robleda Drive
- Serrano Drive
- Ralston Road
- Shearer Drive
- Gresham Lane
- Cebalo Lane
- Nora Way
- Logan Lane
- Arthur Lane
- Carolina Lane
- Elizabeth Way
- Amador Avenue
- Middlegate Street
- Northgate Street
- Southgate Street
- Park Drive
- Polhemus Avenue
- Marymont Avenue
- Euclid Avenue
- Parker Avenue
- Orchard Hills Street
- Mulberry Lane
- Kilroy Way
- Karen Way
- Queens Court
- Clay Drive
- Coghlan Lane
- Betty Lane
- Bergesen Court
- Fleur Place
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Selby Lane
- school
Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion School
A Redwood City School District TK-5 campus at 170 Selby Lane with 41 classrooms, a library, a multipurpose building and an athletic field. County parcel maps put part of the campus in the Town and part in unincorporated Sequoia Tract.
- landmark
Menlo Park Fire District Station 3
At 32 Almendral Avenue, near El Camino Real. The district lists the Town of Atherton among the station's primary response areas.
- park
Holbrook-Palmer Park
The Town's 22-acre park at 150 Watkins Avenue, across El Camino, about half a mile (straight-line) from the Atherton Avenue corner. The Town lists a Little League-sized field, tennis courts, a playground, gardens and walking paths.
- landmark
Atherton Civic Center and Library
Town Hall at 80 Fair Oaks Lane and the county library branch at 2 Dinkelspiel Station Lane (opened 2022), about 0.2 mile (straight-line) across El Camino from the Atherton Avenue corner.
- shopping
Woodside Plaza
A retail center on Woodside Road in Redwood City, about 0.4 mile (straight-line) beyond the Town line near West Selby Lane.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Two elementary districts split this area. U.S. Census school-district maps, checked at parcels across the outline, put the blocks north and east of Selby Lane's southeast leg in the Redwood City School District, and the Polhemus, Parker and Marymont strip between that leg and Atherton Avenue in the Las Lomitas Elementary School District. All of it is in the Sequoia Union High School District. Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion School (Redwood City School District) is on Selby Lane, and Las Lomitas Elementary is at 299 Alameda de las Pulgas, about 0.3 mile (straight-line) past the southwest corner. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
Las Lomitas guide · Sequoia Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Caltrain: Atherton's own station closed in December 2020. The nearest stations are Menlo Park, about 1.7 miles, and Redwood City, about 2.3 miles (straight-line from the middle of the area).
- SamTrans route ECR (Daly City BART to Palo Alto Transit Center) runs on El Camino Real along the east edge.
- I-280: the Woodside Road (SR 84) interchange is about 2.1 miles southwest and Sand Hill Road about 2.5 miles south (straight-line).
- US 101: the Woodside Road interchange in Redwood City is about 2.3 miles north (straight-line).
- El Camino Real: the Town's Complete Streets study covers the 1.5-mile stretch from north of Selby Lane to Valparaiso Avenue (sidewalks, bus stops, bikeways), and the City Council advanced two concepts for more analysis.
- Bikes: Class II bike lanes on Selby Lane are a Town project now on hold pending the bicycle and pedestrian plan update, and the Town has proposed Class II lanes on Atherton Avenue between the Alameda and El Camino.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Selby Lane: what we check
Buying here
- Confirm the jurisdiction, not just the mailing city. County parcel records put about two dozen Selby Lane lots (the southwest side between West Selby Lane and Stockbridge, numbers roughly 198 to 298) in unincorporated Sequoia Tract even though their mailing city is Atherton, with ZIP 94061 or 94027. County planning and permits apply there.
- Check the school district by address: the Redwood City School District and Las Lomitas Elementary School District line follows Selby Lane's southeast leg, and Census maps can be off by a parcel.
- Run the lot through the R-1A rules before you plan a rebuild: 60-foot front and rear setbacks on most lots, 18% floor area on lots of an acre or more, and (lot size x 0.163) + 726 square feet on smaller lots, with a 2,250-square-foot floor. Parker Avenue lots use the Parker Avenue overlay instead.
- Ask which sewer agency serves the lot and about the lateral. County maps put most of this area in the Fair Oaks Sewer Maintenance District and the Atherton Avenue and Polhemus side in West Bay Sanitary District.
- Read the hazard disclosures. The county's FEMA layer shows Zone X (minimal flood hazard) throughout, but the Town cites seasonal flooding on El Camino and Selby Lane in its street projects, and the state's 2006 seismic hazard map shows a liquefaction zone over some lots at the north end (Gresham, Cebalo and Logan lanes, part of Selby Lane and El Camino).
- Get an arborist's view early: oaks of 15.2 inches in diameter or more are heritage trees anywhere on the lot, and a Town tree protection plan can shape where you build.
Selling here
- Lead with the lot: acreage, frontage and how the 60-foot setbacks frame the buildable area, since buyers here compare land as much as houses.
- Have the jurisdiction and school answers ready (Town or Sequoia Tract; Redwood City SD or Las Lomitas ESD), with the district lookup links.
- Gather permits and paperwork: building and ADU permits, heritage tree permits and arborist reports, and any special structure permit for height.
- On Parker Avenue or the Middlegate, Northgate and Southgate blocks, show the small-lot floor-area math so buyers see what can be built.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Selby Lane questions, answered
Is every Selby Lane address in the Town of Atherton?
No. County parcel records put the southwest side of Selby Lane between West Selby Lane and Stockbridge Avenue (about two dozen lots) in unincorporated Sequoia Tract, though their mailing city is Atherton. West Selby Lane itself is county land with Redwood City 94061 mailing addresses. This guide's outline leaves Sequoia Tract out.
Which school district serves Selby Lane and Almendral?
Most of it is in the Redwood City School District; the Polhemus, Parker and Marymont strip south of Selby Lane's southeast leg is in the Las Lomitas Elementary School District. High school is the Sequoia Union High School District. Check the exact address with each district.
Why are some lots so much smaller than an acre?
A few blocks were laid out small: Middlegate, Northgate and Southgate streets and Park Drive (about 0.15 acre) and Parker Avenue (about 0.18 acre). Parker Avenue has had its own zoning overlay since 2010.
How does this guide split the MLS area called West Atherton?
Along Atherton Avenue. Listings labeled West Atherton cover both sides of Atherton Avenue between El Camino and the Alameda; the north side is this guide and the south side is the West Atherton guide.
Where is the nearest Caltrain station?
Atherton's station closed in December 2020. Menlo Park station is about 1.7 miles and Redwood City station about 2.3 miles from the middle of the area (straight-line).
Are changes planned for El Camino Real and Selby Lane?
Studied, not scheduled. The Town has looked at El Camino and Selby Lane intersection options (no funding or timetable yet) and complete-streets concepts for El Camino from north of Selby Lane to Valparaiso Avenue, and its Selby Lane bike lane project is on hold.
next door
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