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palo alto neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Charleston Gardens, Palo Alto Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
A small triangle of single-story homes in south Palo Alto, bounded by Charleston, Middlefield and San Antonio roads: 1951 houses on one side, 1954 Jones & Emmons Eichlers on the other, across from Cubberley.
Charleston Gardens by the numbers
charleston gardens by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Charleston Gardens: Charleston, Middlefield and San Antonio roads (approximate). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in charleston gardens · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Charleston Gardens
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Charleston Gardens 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 (Charleston Gardens: Charleston, Middlefield and San Antonio roads (approximate)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Charleston Gardens came to be
Charleston Gardens is a pocket-size neighborhood with two birthdays. On the city's parcel records, the houses facing Middlefield Road, most of Sutherland Drive and the southern part of Montrose Avenue carry a 1951 build year. Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood Place, Seminole Way, the rest of Montrose and the south side of East Charleston Road are dated 1954, which is the year the city's Eichler tract table gives for Charleston Gardens: 79 lots designed by Jones & Emmons, the firm drawing Greenmeadow across Middlefield Road that same year.
So the 1954 blocks are Eichlers and the 1951 blocks mostly are not, which is the mix local neighborhood profiles describe: one-story homes, some Eichlers and some not, plus ranch-style houses and a few newer ones. The parcel count lines up neatly with the city: 77 single-family lots here are dated 1954, against the 79 Eichler lots in the tract table.
The triangle is ringed by arterials and civic land. Across Middlefield are the Cubberley Community Center and Greendell School; at the Middlefield/Charleston corner is the Charleston Center; across Charleston, the office and light-industrial blocks of Fabian Way run toward US 101.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
Five short streets do the work. Montrose Avenue runs straight from Middlefield Road to Charleston Road; Sutherland Drive enters from Charleston and bends east to meet Montrose; Seminole Way and Maplewood Avenue tie the two together; and Maplewood Place is a short court off Maplewood. About 20 houses face Middlefield Road itself, and about 15 face East Charleston Road. Sutherland (39 lots) and Montrose (34) are the longest.
The 1954 houses are Jones & Emmons Eichlers of the same vintage as Greenmeadow: single story, post-and-beam, on slabs with radiant heating, glass walls to the back yard. The 1951 houses are conventional single-story homes. Lots are small for Palo Alto, mostly 6,000 to 7,700 square feet with a median near 6,100, and only about six houses on the parcel layer have build dates after 1990, so the streetscape is still overwhelmingly early-1950s.
Zoning is R-1(8000) on every single-family lot, with no single-story overlay: Charleston Gardens is not on the city's 2015 list of overlay districts and the zoning layer shows none. A second story or two-story rebuild goes through the city's Single-Family Individual Review, and the 2018 Eichler design guidelines apply as voluntary guidance on the Eichler blocks. Along the edges the land use changes: 1961 apartments (RM-30) line part of Middlefield, and a large 1974-76 planned-community (PC) multifamily complex fills the San Antonio Road side.
streets in charleston gardens
- Sutherland Drive
- Montrose Avenue
- Seminole Way
- Maplewood Avenue
- Maplewood Place
- East Charleston Road
- Middlefield Road
- San Antonio Road
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Charleston Gardens
- landmark
Cubberley Community Center
Across Middlefield Road at 4000 Middlefield, about a quarter mile away. The City Council adopted a conceptual master plan for rebuilding the campus on May 18, 2026, with a recreation and wellness center, a theater complex and a new education building in the first phase; a half-cent sales tax measure (Measure J) to help pay for it is on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
- shopping
Charleston Center
Neighborhood shopping at the southwest corner of Middlefield and Charleston roads, about 0.3 mile from the middle of the triangle. Across San Antonio Road in Mountain View is The Village at San Antonio Center.
- park
Mitchell Park
The city's 21.4-acre district park at 600 East Meadow Drive, about half a mile northwest, designed by Robert Royston and opened in 1957, with tennis and pickleball courts, soccer fields, a water play structure, the Magical Bridge Playground and a dog park.
- park
Ramos Park
A 4.3-acre city park at 820 East Meadow Drive, about half a mile north.
- landmark
Mitchell Park Library and Community Center
The branch library at 3700 Middlefield Road, about half a mile northwest.
- trail
Highway 101 Bike and Pedestrian Bridge
About 0.7 mile north via Fabian Way and East Meadow Drive, the bridge (opened November 2021) crosses US 101 to the Baylands.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Charleston Gardens is in the Palo Alto Unified School District. Greendell School, a PAUSD campus at 4120 Middlefield Road, is just across Middlefield; Hoover Elementary's website says it is temporarily operating there. Fairmeadow Elementary and JLS Middle School are on East Meadow Drive about 0.7 mile northwest. High school (Palo Alto High or Gunn) is assigned by address. Attendance boundaries change, so confirm the exact address with PAUSD.
Getting around
- Caltrain: San Antonio station (Showers Drive, Mountain View) is about 0.8 mile southwest, straight line; a 2018 local news profile calls it about a 20-minute walk.
- US 101: the San Antonio Road interchange is about 0.7 mile north, straight line.
- VTA Route 21 runs along Middlefield Road on the neighborhood's west edge.
- Bike: the Highway 101 bridge and Adobe Reach Trail start on East Meadow Drive about 0.7 mile north; Montrose Avenue was part of the Louis-Montrose bike boulevard the City Council approved in 2017 (check the city's bikeways page for what has been built).
- Charleston Road crosses the Caltrain tracks at grade at Alma Street, about a mile west; in December 2025 the City Council chose an underpass design for that crossing, with construction not expected before the 2030s.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Charleston Gardens: what we check
Buying here
- Know which half you are buying. A 1954 Eichler and a 1951 conventional house need different inspections: for an Eichler, the radiant heating pipes in the slab, the low-slope roof, single-pane glass and insulation, which the city's Eichler guidelines list as common weak spots.
- There is no single-story overlay. A neighbor can add a second story through Individual Review, so check the city for pending two-story applications near the house.
- Edge lots face Middlefield, Charleston or San Antonio, all busy roads, and some interior lots back onto the San Antonio Road commercial strip or the multifamily complex. Visit at commute hours.
- Lots are small (median about 6,100 sq ft) under R-1(8000) zoning, so check setbacks, lot coverage and ADU rules with the city before you plan an addition.
- Watch the Cubberley rebuild across the street: the master plan was adopted in May 2026 and its first phase depends on funding, including Measure J on the November 2026 ballot. Construction would mean trucks and changes on Middlefield.
Selling here
- Say clearly what you have: a 1954 Jones & Emmons Eichler or a 1951 single-story house, with the build year and original layout.
- Document upgrades with permits, especially radiant heat, roofing, insulation and glazing on an Eichler.
- Use measurable location facts: Cubberley and Greendell across Middlefield, the Mitchell Park Library about half a mile, San Antonio Caltrain about 0.8 mile.
- On an edge lot, point out any sound-reducing upgrades you have actually made and price with the location in mind.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Charleston Gardens questions, answered
Where is Charleston Gardens?
In south Palo Alto, in the triangle formed by East Charleston Road, Middlefield Road and San Antonio Road, across Middlefield from Cubberley Community Center. The ZIP code is 94303.
Are all the homes in Charleston Gardens Eichlers?
No. City parcel records date about half the single-family homes to 1954, the year of the Jones & Emmons Eichler tract (79 lots in the city's table), and most of the rest to 1951. Local neighborhood profiles describe the mix as some Eichlers and some not.
Does Charleston Gardens have a single-story overlay?
No. It is not on the city's list of overlay districts, and its single-family lots are zoned R-1(8000). Second stories go through the city's Individual Review.
How close is Caltrain?
San Antonio station in Mountain View is about 0.8 mile away in a straight line, roughly a 20-minute walk.
What is happening at Cubberley?
The City Council adopted a conceptual master plan for the Cubberley campus on May 18, 2026. Its first phase includes a recreation and wellness center, a theater complex and a new education building, and its funding includes Measure J on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
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