Eichlers in Marin and the East Bay: 15 Tracts, from Terra Linda to Sequoyah Hills

Most Eichler conversations start in Palo Alto and Sunnyvale, but Joseph Eichler also built across the bay and north of the Golden Gate. From Terra Linda in 1955 to a small creekside tract in Sleepy Hollow in 1972–1973, we’ve documented 15 Eichler projects in seven Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda County cities. Each has its own page with the history, the streets, local rules and recent Eichler sales; this post is the quick tour.

The short answer

• Marin has the most. Terra Linda holds nearly 850 Eichlers, Upper Lucas Valley 435 and Lower Lucas Valley (Marinwood) 375, plus 13 on Strawberry Point and about 15 in Sleepy Hollow.
• Contra Costa’s biggest is Rancho San Miguel. About 375 Eichlers in Walnut Creek from 1955–1958, plus the 34-house Northgate Eichlers and three small Concord tracts with 187 homes.
• Alameda County has two. Greenridge in Castro Valley (about 185) and a cluster of 48 to 54 in Oakland’s Sequoyah Hills.
• Rules vary by place. San Rafael and Marin County have Eichler-specific height rules for Terra Linda and Upper Lucas Valley; we found none in Walnut Creek, Concord or unincorporated Castro Valley.
• Counts are approximate. Sources disagree on several tracts; each page lists every count we found and where it came from.

Marin County

Terra Linda, San Rafael was Eichler’s first Marin subdivision. He took over home building there in 1955, after the first developer’s venture ran into trouble, and built nearly 850 houses across Terra Linda North, a later Santa Margarita section and Terra Linda South through about 1961. A 2004 city overlay limits homes in the mapped Eichler neighborhoods to one habitable floor and 17 feet.

Upper Lucas Valley was the last large Marin tract: 435 homes from 1963 to 1967 by Jones & Emmons and Claude Oakland, known for gable models with two peaked roofs framing an atrium, buried utility lines and no streetlights. Marin County caps Eichler-design homes there at 15 feet 6 inches, and the homeowners association reviews changes seen from the street.

Lower Lucas Valley (Marinwood), called “the Berries” for its street names, came first: 375 homes from 1957 to 1961. Its recorded CC&Rs are reported to be no longer enforced, and we found no Eichler-specific county standard there.

Strawberry Point, Mill Valley has 13 nearly custom Eichlers on Richardson Bay from 1965–1966, all that was built of a 99-house plan called Harbor Point before Eichler Homes’ bankruptcy. Sleepy Hollow, north of San Anselmo, has about 15 large late-model Eichlers from 1972–1973 on Catskill Court and Katrina Lane, with a creekside trail Eichler built at homeowners’ request.

Contra Costa County

Rancho San Miguel, Walnut Creek is the county’s largest Eichler tract: about 375 Eichlers from 1955–1958 mixed with about 150 Jordan & Reed ranch houses, with two parks on land Eichler gave the city. Charles Dorsett of Anshen & Allen helped design it.

The Northgate Eichlers, which Eichler’s brochure called Walnut Grove, are 34 late Claude Oakland houses from 1969 into the mid-1970s on a former walnut orchard, with insulated roofs and walls and underground utilities.

In Concord, Eichler built three small tracts from 1963 to 1965 along Clayton Road: Parkwood Estates (77 homes beside Concord Community Park), and Rancho del Diablo (69) with the adjoining Rancho de los Santos (41).

Alameda County

Greenridge, Castro Valley, which residents call “the Hill,” is one of Eichler’s relatively few hillside tracts: about 185 homes from 1960 to 1965 along a mile-long ridge road. Eichler planned about 400 houses there, but after a recession he sold sections to other developers. Alameda County began a historic resources survey of Castro Valley in June 2026.

Sequoyah Hills, Oakland holds Oakland’s only Eichler tract, 48 to 54 homes from about 1965 near the entry to a larger subdivision. Oakland’s 1998 survey rated them as contributors to a potential historic district, and the homeowners association preapproves major changes.

Before you buy one here

• Confirm it’s an Eichler. Many of these tracts share streets with other builders’ houses: Alliance homes in Terra Linda, Jordan & Reed ranch houses in Rancho San Miguel, Brown & Kauffmann homes in Sequoyah Hills. Check the recorded tract map or the permit history, not the listing.
• Know which rules apply. City overlays, county standards and homeowners associations differ from tract to tract; each tract page lists what we found and links the source.
• Look-alikes. Novato’s Lynwood Park, Orchard Park and Ferris Gardens, and homes in Fremont’s Southpark area, are sometimes called Eichlers; we found no source showing Eichler built them.

What we didn’t find

We found no documented Eichler tract in Novato, Greenbrae, Santa Venetia, San Ramon, Orinda, Hayward, San Leandro, Fremont, Pleasanton, Livermore or Santa Cruz County. Seven houses on Pazzi and Valley Vista roads in Walnut Creek are reported as Eichlers, but we couldn’t confirm their years.

The full list, with a timeline, tables by city and live sales counts, is on our East Bay and Marin Eichler tracts page. For the rest of the Bay Area, see the Silicon Valley and Peninsula and San Francisco tract indexes.

Sources: Eichler Network articles on each tract; PCAD (University of Washington); the Lucas Valley Homeowners Association, Rancho San Miguel Association and Sequoyah Hills Homeowners Association; San Rafael, Marin County, Walnut Creek, Concord, Alameda County and Oakland planning pages and codes (some via third-party code sites); USModernist; Visit Concord; Oakland Heritage Alliance; UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives; Dwell.

We’re the Boyenga Team at Compass. We represent buyers and sellers in Santa Clara County, bay-side San Mateo County and San Francisco, and we track Eichlers across the Bay Area. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included. Call (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606.