“Menlo Park’s Civic Center neighborhood is dominated by the desirable Linfield Oaks area, considered one of the town’s entry-level boroughs.”
Civic Center Middlefield to El Camino (MLS #305) is a fusion of boroughs offering a wide variety of amenities.
Park Forest is a small district of condominiums and town homes at the Menlo Park-Palo Alto border. A tight-knit community, Park Forest includes only three streets. Residents have access to a shared recreation area that includes a swimming pool and lush redwood grove.
The majority of Civic Center is dominated by Linfield Oaks, an 80-acre post-war planned community treasured by residents and would-be homeowners alike. It’s lanes and avenues are orderly and well kept while homes tend toward the common ranch style with a smattering of more modern homes. It also includes multi-unit housing via apartment complexes built in the 1950s. Close to Menlo Park’s charming downtown and Burgess Park, the borough is laden with mature trees, offers the excellence of Menlo Park schools and affords easy access to key freeways and major thoroughfares.
Linfield Oaks includes three new developments, somewhat of a rarity within the borders of the city itself. The Classics at Burgess Park is a 33-unit tract constructed in 1999. Morgan Lane offers 56 units of traditional architecture while Lane Woods includes 33 Craftsman homes built in 2008. Each of these sub-divisions offer higher-end homes and come with a price tag to match.
Just west of Linfield Oaks is an area that includes a mix of low-rise apartments and condominiums, 1950s and 1960-era ranch homes and the occasional newer home. SRI International and the city’s Civic Buildings occupy a large plot of land in this section, thus giving the borough its Civic Center designation.
Neighborhood Price Point
$1,000,000-$2,200,000
Favorable Attributes
- One of Menlo Park’s entry level neighborhoods
- Offers a variety of multi-family and single family dwelling options
- Accessible to major freeways, city parks and downtown
- Well-kept streets lined with mature trees
- Access to Menlo Park’s excellent schools
History of Civic Center – Middlefield to El Camino Real, Menlo Park
In 1864, William Eustace Barron, well-known California businessman, built a 40-room English country mansion on his 280-acre Menlo Park estate. He sold it to politician Milton Slocum Latham in 1871 who, after losing his fortune, was forced to sell “Thurlow Lodge” in 1883.
Purchased by the widow of railroad mogul, Mark Hopkins, and renamed “Sherwood Hall”, the estate was given as a wedding gift to their adopted son, Timothy Hopkins. One of the founders of Palo Alto and known for his love of chrysanthemums, Timothy grew chrysanthemums and sold them commercially in San Francisco under the name “Sherwood Hall Nursery”.
Although he claimed the longest residence of Sherwood hall, his time in the main house ended with the 1906 earthquake. The temblor forced Timothy and his wife to move into the estate gatehouse.
In 1942, six years after Timothy’s death, many of the personal items in Sherwood Hall were sold at auction. The mansion itself was dismantled shortly after and Dibble Hospital was constructed in its place. Today, this plot is the home of SRI International. The gatehouse where Timothy lived out his remaining years still stands as part of the Menlo Park Civic Center.