Millbrae

Telescope Hills & Silva Ranch

Telescope Hills & Silva Ranch neighborhood offers large homes, big views and ample green space

For a narrow sliver of an area, the Millbrae neighborhood known as Telescope Hill and/or Silva Ranch packs plenty of punch. Within its slim borders are Millbrae’s premier city park (Central Park) and the Millbrae Community Center, Taylor Middle School, a section of the Spur Trail and part of downtown’s Broadway commercial district; and a few houses.

Homes in Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch garner prices generally between $1.5 and $1.9 million, with larger properties selling for well over $2 million. Homes are large, with slightly under or well over 2,000 square feet of living space, attached two-car garages and three to five bedrooms with multiple bathrooms. Many have bay views and lots average approximately 7,000 to 8,000 square feet. The eastern end of the district also includes some apartment and condominium complexes in which units can be had for less than $1 million.

Don’t expect a high Walk Score from Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch. The area’s remote, hilly location makes it a car-dependent place. With its large homes, big views and ample green space, Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch delivers exactly what its residents desire.

  • 224

    Homes

  • $2.21M

    Median Sale Price

  • $2.34M

    Average Sale Price

Pricing data based on single-family homes

Telescope Hills & Silva Ranch on the Map

Schools & History

History

“Scenic” Telescope Hill was one of the last undeveloped sections of Millbrae. It spent the 1940s giving up parts of its soil to help build a second runway at Mills Field/San Francisco International Airport. Trucks carrying dirt from the infamous “Macco Pit” in Millbrae’s western hills would rumble down Richmond Drive, through the “Silva Tract,” land once owned by Millbrae pioneer Custodio Silva. Eventually, Richmond Drive and the few streets branching from it would house several low-rise apartment buildings, but construction on these wouldn’t begin until the 1960s. Silva’s sons operated a horse riding ranch at the foot of the Silva Tract, on El Camino Real.

Eventually, the Macco Pit closed down, opening the western hills to development. Still, growth in Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch was slow. The neighborhood’s few winding residential streets are lined with homes built between the late 1950s and the 1970s, which gives it an added cache; most Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch homes are larger than that found in neighborhoods in the flatlands.

Speaking of cache, one early, enthusiastic consumer of Telescope Hills/Silva Ranch real estate was QANTAS. The Australian airline (QANTAS stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, Ltd.) purchased several new Telescope Hill homes for its employees, perhaps so they could stand in their living rooms and watch planes take off and land at distant San Francisco International Airport.

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