San Juan Hill occupies a quiet ridge south of Stanford′s main quad — one of the most architecturally significant residential enclaves on the entire Peninsula. The neighborhood took shape in the early decades of the twentieth century as the university encouraged senior faculty to build on campus, and the houses that followed reflect a remarkable concentration of considered design. Birge Clark — the architect who shaped much of Palo Alto and collaborated with Lou Henry Hoover on the landmark residence that still serves as the university president′s home — was among the most prolific designers here, and his influence is evident in the Spanish Colonial and Mediterranean forms that line the oak-shaded streets.
What distinguishes San Juan Hill today is what it has always been: a neighborhood of serious people living quietly, close to one of the world′s great research universities and yet removed from its daily pace. The streets are walkable and largely undisturbed. The architecture is genuine — not period-revival pastiche but the real thing, built when these styles were contemporary. And the setting, on a gentle rise with mature trees and open views toward the hills, gives the neighborhood a sense of remove that most of the Peninsula can no longer offer.
Campus homes are available only to eligible Stanford faculty and staff, which means the community remains what it was designed to be: an intellectual enclave with a strong sense of place and a long institutional memory.
746 santa ynez street is one of the most historically significant private residences in stanford′s san juan hill neighborhood — and one of the least known, sitting below street level behind a dense screen of mature trees, invisible to passersby on the street above.
the house was designed in 1917 by charles k. sumner of san francisco, the architect of record, whose original drawings are dated august 29, 1917, in a mediterranean style with french influences. (the property appears in stanford′s birge clark architectural collection due to a 1941 kitchen remodel by malcolm clark, birge′s son; the confusion is understandable but the authorship is sumner′s.) it was commissioned by albert conser whitaker, a stanford professor of economics, who ran out of funds before completion.
herbert and lou henry hoover purchased the unfinished house and upgraded it substantially while their own house on the crown of san juan hill was under construction. it was lou henry hoover who lived in and completed this house while her husband served in washington under woodrow wilson and attended the versailles peace conference. original cedar shelves in the basement still bear the hoovers′ name.
the subsequent owners read like a roster of stanford′s 20th-century intellectual core: ephraim douglass adams, the history professor who helped hoover establish what became the hoover institution; leonas lancelot burlingame, the botanist whose general biology textbook shaped a generation of students; and theodore w. anderson, professor emeritus of statistics and economics, fellow of the american academy of arts and sciences, and member of the national academy of sciences.
the house offers 3,319 square feet across two main floors, plus a fully finished lower level of 614 square feet with a bedroom and full bath — six bedrooms and three and a half baths in total — on 1.15 acres. the curved driveway passes the full width of the house, and the rear garden is an oasis, including a pool, two large decks, a stunning california live oak, redwoods, liquidambar, monterey pines, and mature fruit trees.
the interior retains much of its original period details and hardware.
some houses have addresses. this one has a history.
stanford-eligible buyers only.
