House.Expert 中文 Discuss your property

Palo Alto · Old Palo Alto What has sold in Old Palo Alto.

Every single-family sale recorded in Old Palo Alto over the last twelve months — where each one is, what it fetched, and how it did against the price it first asked.

All Palo Alto neighborhoods

Old Palo Alto · Palo Alto

What this neighborhood actually did.

40Sold
$7.75MMedian
$2,139.5Median / sq ft
12Median days
12 For sale now 2 in escrow
Jerry Bowden ParkRinconada ParkPeers ParkBowling Green Park Walter HaysCastilleja Waverley StreetWebster StreetBryant StreetSeale AvenueEmerson StreetChurchill AvenueTennyson AvenueMelville AvenueNorth California AvenueNorth California AvenueColeridge AvenueOregon AvenueMarion AvenueSouth CourtSanta Rita AvenueGarland Drive Middlefield RoadEmbarcadero Road

Closed sales of single-family homes in Old Palo Alto, Palo Alto, from September 2, 2025 to September 25, 2026. Source: MLSListings. Each sale is listed with the firm that represented the seller. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Figures are medians rather than averages — one very large sale should not move a neighborhood’s number. 446 sales were recorded in this period; 40 of them carried coordinates and are drawn here. Base map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

What this place is

Never part of Stanford’s town — this was the Seale family’s cattle ranch, auctioned in 1904 and annexed in 1917, which is why the lots are deeper and the houses are a generation later.

Rooftops under the tree canopy in Old Palo Alto, seen from the air
Old Palo Alto from above. Photographed for Maggie’s listing at 154 Coleridge Avenue.

The name misleads. Old Palo Alto is not the old part of Palo Alto — that is Downtown and Professorville, laid out in 1889. This was Rancho Rinconada del Arroyo de San Francisquito, then the Seale brothers' ranch, and Alfred Seale sold it off at public auction in 1904.

It sat outside the city limits with no water service, which stalled building until Seale dug an artesian well on Bryant Street to solve it. Annexation came in 1917, and the houses went up through the 1910s, 20s and 30s — which is why the architecture here is Spanish Colonial and Colonial Revival rather than the shingle and Queen Anne of the 1890s neighbourhoods.

It holds the one George Washington Smith house in the area. Smith is the Santa Barbara architect usually credited with California Spanish Colonial Revival, and he designed only nine houses in the entire Bay Area.

The specifics

  • Subdivided as Seale Addition No. 1 in 1904 by Alfred Seale and annexed to Palo Alto in 1917; Seale Addition No. 2 followed the same year.Palo Alto Stanford Heritage
  • The Seale brothers had acquired 1,200 to 1,400 acres in 1865; Henry Seale sold 697 of them to Timothy Hopkins in 1887, which became Palo Alto proper. Alfred auctioned the remainder of the ranch in 1904.
  • Building stalled because the tract lay outside the city with no water. Alfred Seale dug an artesian well at 1635 Bryant Street to solve it.
  • The Pettigrew House at 1336 Cowper (1925) is by George Washington Smith and was listed on the National Register on November 25, 1980. It is one of only nine houses Smith designed in the Bay Area.Palo Alto Stanford Heritage
  • Gamble Garden at 1431 Waverley was built in 1902 for $6,039 for a son of a Procter & Gamble founder. His daughter left the estate to the City of Palo Alto in 1971 and it is now a public garden.Palo Alto Stanford Heritage
  • The Pedro de Lemos house at 100–110 Waverley Oaks was designed and built by de Lemos himself between 1931 and 1941, while he was directing the Stanford art museum. Listed on the National Register in January 1980.
  • Seale Avenue was originally Milton Avenue, renamed after Alfred Seale’s father died in early 1907.

Old Palo Alto in one paragraph

40 homes sold in Old Palo Alto over the last year, at a median of $7.75M — above the Palo Alto median of $4.01M. The typical one is a 3,549 sq ft two-story house from 1972 on an 8,173 sq ft lot, at $2,140 a square foot.

Against the price sellers first asked — not the price they had been reduced to — the median sale here closed at exactly the asking price, and 50% of sellers got at least their asking price. That is weaker than Palo Alto as a whole, where the median is +5.5%. Here the first number has to be closer to right, because the market is less inclined to correct it upward.

In Old Palo Alto, the first two weeks are the sale

Every sale grouped by how long it took, against the price it first asked. Not against a reduced price — against the number it launched at.

Homes here that sold in the first week finished +5.4% against their opening price. The ones still on the market after sixty days finished −9.3%. Here the gap does track price: the homes that took longer were the dearer ones, by a median of $10.30M against $7.50M. The top of this market is where the opening number is hardest to get right. Whatever is going to happen, happens early.

Every sale: what it fetched, and how it did

One dot per home. Across is the result against the price it first asked. Up is what it actually sold for. Red beat its asking price; charcoal did not.

$0k$5M$10M$15M$20M$25M
$7.80M · +4.0% against its first asking price$7.50M · +2.8% against its first asking price$4.00M · +8.2% against its first asking price$2.55M · +6.8% against its first asking price$4.28M · +7.7% against its first asking price$7.70M · +5.4% against its first asking price$19.00M · +0.6% against its first asking price$7.25M · +16.0% against its first asking price$10.30M · −6.3% against its first asking price$7.35M · +24.6% against its first asking price$5.35M · +18.9% against its first asking price$4.00M · +0.0% against its first asking price$3.60M · +0.1% against its first asking price$13.50M · +0.0% against its first asking price$6.70M · +8.4% against its first asking price$9.80M · −1.9% against its first asking price$12.00M · −13.5% against its first asking price$9.21M · −3.0% against its first asking price$21.77M · −9.3% against its first asking price$2.63M · −8.9% against its first asking price$4.40M · +10.3% against its first asking price$9.08M · −5.2% against its first asking price$10.39M · +0.9% against its first asking price$11.55M · +7.0% against its first asking price$18.25M · −26.4% against its first asking price$18.88M · −13.7% against its first asking price$22.00M · −11.6% against its first asking price$21.25M · −18.1% against its first asking price$6.28M · +13.8% against its first asking price$15.69M · +0.0% against its first asking price$11.30M · −9.6% against its first asking price$8.60M · −0.6% against its first asking price$3.09M · +10.8% against its first asking price$5.92M · −1.2% against its first asking price$10.25M · −17.3% against its first asking price$3.43M · −4.6% against its first asking price$5.10M · −2.0% against its first asking price$10.30M · −11.9% against its first asking price$7.36M · −7.9% against its first asking price$6.50M · −18.6% against its first asking price$7.80M · +4.0% against its first asking price$7.50M · +2.8% against its first asking price$4.00M · +8.2% against its first asking price$2.55M · +6.8% against its first asking price$4.28M · +7.7% against its first asking price$7.70M · +5.4% against its first asking price$19.00M · +0.6% against its first asking price$7.25M · +16.0% against its first asking price$10.30M · −6.3% against its first asking price$7.35M · +24.6% against its first asking price$5.35M · +18.9% against its first asking price$4.00M · +0.0% against its first asking price$3.60M · +0.1% against its first asking price$13.50M · +0.0% against its first asking price$6.70M · +8.4% against its first asking price$9.80M · −1.9% against its first asking price$12.00M · −13.5% against its first asking price$9.21M · −3.0% against its first asking price$21.77M · −9.3% against its first asking price$2.63M · −8.9% against its first asking price$4.40M · +10.3% against its first asking price$9.08M · −5.2% against its first asking price$10.39M · +0.9% against its first asking price$11.55M · +7.0% against its first asking price$18.25M · −26.4% against its first asking price$18.88M · −13.7% against its first asking price$22.00M · −11.6% against its first asking price$21.25M · −18.1% against its first asking price$6.28M · +13.8% against its first asking price$15.69M · +0.0% against its first asking price$11.30M · −9.6% against its first asking price$8.60M · −0.6% against its first asking price$3.09M · +10.8% against its first asking price$5.92M · −1.2% against its first asking price$10.25M · −17.3% against its first asking price$3.43M · −4.6% against its first asking price$5.10M · −2.0% against its first asking price$10.30M · −11.9% against its first asking price$7.36M · −7.9% against its first asking price$6.50M · −18.6% against its first asking pricemedian +0.0% median $7.80M
−30%−20%−10%0%+10%+20%

The dashed lines are the two medians — $7.80M and +0.0%. A dot to the right of the upright line beat the price it opened at; a dot above the flat one sold for more than the typical home here. What the corners tell you is whether the top of Old Palo Alto behaves like the rest of it.

If this is your street

The map says what sold. It doesn’t say what yours would.

Two houses on the same Old Palo Alto block can be hundreds of dollars a square foot apart, and the difference is almost never the house — it is what was done to it before anyone saw it. Maggie will tell you which of those things is worth doing on yours, and which is not.

Discuss your property