Crescent Park walking tour

Crescent Park went on sale in 1924 as a planned neighborhood designed for families who owned cars. Its developers curved the streets to follow San Francisquito Creek, set large lots and strict building rules and put in underground power lines and electrolier street lights. A century later it is still quiet and green. It also holds some of the city's most important listed houses within a few blocks of each other.

This loop links them with the creek, a historic Eichler district next door and a large neighborhood park. All houses named here are state landmarks, National Register properties or entries on the City of Palo Alto's Historic Inventory. Our Crescent Park guide tells the neighborhood's full story, including the 1998 flood.

Before you go

Start at University Avenue and Middlefield Road, about 0.8 miles east of the Palo Alto Caltrain station. The loop runs about 3 miles. It is mostly flat and shaded but some streets have narrow sidewalks. Crescent Park suits a bike as well as it suits walking. Our biking guide covers bike routes from downtown.

There are no shops, cafes or restrooms inside the neighborhood. Eleanor Pardee Park has portable restrooms near the end of the loop. Bring water on warm days.

The route, stop by stop

1. Wilson House, 860 University Avenue. Walk east from Middlefield. This house joined the National Register on January 2, 1980. The city inventory rates it Category 1.
2. John Adams Squire House, 900 University Avenue. Next door is the most formal house in Palo Alto. T. Paterson Ross designed this Classical Revival mansion and George W. Mosher built it in 1904. The state calls it a notable example of California's interpretation of the Greco-Roman Classic Revival. It is California Historical Landmark No. 857 and joined the National Register on March 6, 1972. Category 1.
3. University Avenue, 900 block. Keep walking east. The houses at 939 and 970 University are both Category 2 on the city inventory. Notice how the deep setbacks line up, as the 1920s tract rules required.
4. 1023 Forest Avenue. Turn south one block to Forest. Preservationists call this Queen Anne house the grande dame of Crescent Park and one of the best examples of its style in town. The city rates it Category 2.
5. Forest Avenue medians. Walk east along Forest. Its planted medians are wide enough for children to play on and show how the developers spent on landscaping as well as lots.
6. Crescent Drive. Head north toward the creek. Crescent Drive bends with the water, which gives the neighborhood its name. Three houses on it appear on the city inventory, one of them in Category 2.
7. Dunker House, 420 Maple Street. Birge Clark designed this house in 1925. It is considered one of the earliest Spanish Colonial Revival homes in the city and joined the National Register on February 19, 1982. Category 2.
8. Pope-Chaucer Street Bridge. Follow the streets to Chaucer Street at the creek. This narrow crossing to Menlo Park is where San Francisquito Creek broke out about 1 a.m. on February 3, 1998, flooding about 1,700 properties in three cities. Water backed up here again on December 31, 2022. Look at how little room the bridge leaves for the channel.
9. Newell Road Bridge. Continue east to Newell Road. Crews closed the 1911 bridge on May 21, 2026, to replace it with a longer, wider span, a $16 million project expected to finish in spring 2027. It is the first major step of the creek flood plan. Watch from outside the fencing.
10. Green Gables historic district. Head south on Newell to the streets the National Register lists as Channing Avenue, Ivy Lane, Greer Road and Wildwood Lane. Anshen and Allen designed this Eichler tract in 1950 and 1951. It was listed on July 28, 2005, the same day as Greenmeadow.
11. Eleanor Pardee Park, 851 Center Drive. Walk west along Channing Avenue. The 9.6-acre park was given to the city in 1920 by Emily Pardee Dixon in memory of Eleanor Pardee. It has big shade trees, lawns and play areas. A good rest stop.
12. Hamilton Avenue back to Middlefield. Return west along Hamilton. The city inventory includes several houses on this street, including one in Category 2 in the 1200 block. You finish a short walk from downtown.

The Squire House up close

The Squire House is the stop most visitors come for. Its columned portico faces University Avenue like a small state capitol. It was built in 1904, two decades before the Crescent Park tract opened around it. The National Register spells his name John Adam Squire, a quirk of the 1972 listing. The house is a private residence with no public access. Stand on the opposite sidewalk for the best view of the whole facade and do not stop on the driveway. For other state landmarks in town, see our historic landmarks guide.

How the 1920s tract worked

The city annexed much of the former Newell farmland in 1920 as Crescent Park 1. The subdivision went on sale in 1924 with Place, Brewer and Clark as sales managers. Rules were strict: every house had to cost at least $10,000, livestock and poultry were banned and setbacks were fixed. Deeds also carried racial covenants, common then and later outlawed. By 1925 the tract had more than 2,500 feet of sidewalk and partly underground power lines. A 31-acre parcel along the creek was added in 1928.

As you walk, notice the patterns that survive:

• Houses set back the same distance from the street.
• Curving streets near the creek and straighter ones toward Channing Avenue.
• Large lots near the water and smaller ones on later additions.
• Few garages facing the street on the older lots.

The creek and the flood plan

San Francisquito Creek is the boundary between Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and the reason Crescent Park curves. It is also the neighborhood's main worry. The three creek cities, Valley Water and the San Mateo County flood district work together through the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority. The Pope-Chaucer bridge cannot be replaced until upstream work is done, since removing it first would send more water toward homes downstream. Our page on San Francisquito Creek covers its longer history.

Green Gables and the Eichler connection

Green Gables is a short detour from the 1920s houses into postwar modernism. It was one of Joseph Eichler's early Palo Alto tracts, with 63 lots on the city's list. The National Register nomination was prepared alongside Greenmeadow's and both were listed in 2005. Look for low roofs, vertical siding and mostly closed fronts. Our Eichler homes history explains the architects. The surrounding area is covered on our Duveneck/St. Francis page.

Sidewalk etiquette

Making a day of it

Crescent Park pairs well with downtown. Walk our downtown architecture walking tour in the morning and this loop after lunch. To learn how the city lists and protects houses like these, read our historic homes guide. If you prefer a recorded guide for other parts of the Bay Area, browse self-guided audio tours.

Listing dates come from National Park Service records as summarized by Wikipedia and from the California Office of Historic Preservation. Categories come from the city's Historic Inventory list. Tract history follows the city's historic survey and Palo Alto Online reporting.

Frequently asked questions