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426 Palm Avenue Highlands, Millbrae

sold

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Spanish Hacienda Just Blocks from Downtown

This enchanting hacienda exudes classic Spanish style with its red tile roof, decorative window awning, and gated arched opening to a courtyard entrance with tiled steps to the covered front door. These classic arches and tile themes are echoed throughout the home. The barrel-vaulted ceiling, arched room openings, parquet wood floors, and original tile outlining the fireplace recall the home’s circa 1931 heritage. Beyond the living room and formal dining room, which opens to the rear deck, the updated kitchen follows the Spanish theme with decorative tile backsplashes and butcher-block counters, including a peninsula with breakfast-bar seating. Additional casual dining has built-in banquette seating plus a French door to the rear deck – perfect for a barbecue.

The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 updated baths, including an en suite on the lower level plus two bedrooms served by a hallway bath on the upper level. There is also tremendous unfinished lower-level space adjacent to the one-car garage with potential for added living space. Topping it all off is a surprisingly large rear yard with elevated wisteria-covered deck, expansive patio, lawn, and even a sandbox and playhouse. Plus, this home is just down the street from Central Park, is only 3 blocks from downtown shops, cafes, and restaurants, and only 1 mile to BART and Caltrain. Welcome home!

Facts and Figures

Offered at $1,788,000
Sold for $1,865,000
3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms
1,755 sq. ft. home, per paid vendor
5,760 sq. ft. lot, per county records
Built in 1931
Listed on October 1st, 2020

Listed by Raziel Ungar

Compass

Contact Raziel

Amenities

Classic Spanish-style home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths
Approximately 1,755 square feet of living space
Arched courtyard entrance with iron gate and tiled steps up to the covered front door, which features an inset diamond-shaped pane of glass
Traditional foyer has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and parquet and original hardwood floor, which continues into the living room and formal dining room
A wide arched opening in the foyer frames the entrance to the grand living room, which is crowned by a high ceiling and overlooks the front yard through an expansive window; a focal-point, wood-burning fireplace is outlined in of-the-era tiles in an adobe-style, to-the-ceiling mantel with inset arched niche
Formal dining room features a chandelier, crown moldings, and double French doors to the rear deck and yard
Updated kitchen has butcher-block counters, including a peninsula with breakfast-bar seating, and decorative tile backsplashes; a wonderfully private nook, the built-in banquette seating beneath corner windows defines a casual dining area and a French door opens to the rear deck; a Shaws apron sink and pantry closet are also featured
Appliances include a GE gas range, GE microwave, Bosch dishwasher, and LG refrigerator
Lower-level bedroom suite has carpet, a built-in office center, wardrobe closet, and en suite tiled bath with console vanity and shower
Two bedrooms on the upper level, one with walk-in closet and sliding glass door to the covered front balcony and each with crown moldings and center light
Upstairs hallway bath has a furniture-style vanity with decorative tile backsplash, deep tub, and frameless glass tiled shower
Attached 1-car garage with adjoining unfinished space that spans the entire width of the home and includes a laundry area (also accessible from the bedroom) with sink and LG washer and dryer
Other features include: Ring video front doorbell; EV charging in the garage; productive solar array installed 2.5 years ago; large downstairs storage area, with potential for fitness or additional living space
Large rear yard with elevated wisteria-covered deck and steps down to the spacious patio, lawn, and play area with sandbox and playhouse; a set of maple trees offer vibrant green all summer then turn a beautiful yellow, orange and red in the fall
Lot size of approximately 5,760 square feet
Just down the street from Central Park with playground and sports complex, 3 blocks to shopping and cafes in downtown Millbrae, and just one mile to Caltrain and BART; elementary and middle schools plus parks are within walking distance in fact, the area has a “very walkable” Walk Score of 85; convenient to SFO and commute routes, with easy access to Sawyer Camp Trail, Sweeney Ridge, San Andreas Trail, as well as the coast and Peninsula Open Spaces
Top-rated Millbrae schools

About the Highlands Neighborhood

By 1945 (just as other development in Millbrae was beginning), Niels Schultz, the developer of the neighborhood, completed his original plan for the Millbrae Highlands. The subdivision ended at what is now the Spur Trail (then a railroad spur and at one point the proposed path of a freeway before becoming protected open space in 1975), where Schultz built smaller homes of two and three bedrooms, which can now be had for approximately $1.5 to $1.8 million, less than the larger, older homes closer to downtown.

Schultz was finished – he went on to create Greenbrae, in Marin County – but Millbrae Highlands was not. Within a few years, construction began on homes further into Millbrae’s western hills.

This part of Millbrae Highlands is very different from the “old” neighborhood core. Once gridded and tree-lined, streets between Minorca and the 280 freeway wind uphill, sometimes ending in cul-de-sacs, with minimal trees to block San Francisco Bay Views. Homes here resemble those found in Mills Estates – sprawling one and two-story houses with mid-century influences, shallow pitched roofs and large windows designed to maximize views.

Millbrae Highlands homes for sale are not inexpensive, but they undercut comparable properties in established Burlingame, San Mateo and Menlo Park neighborhoods. Niels Schultz’ original Highlands homes range in price from around $1.6 to as high as $1.9 or $2 million, while newer homes located higher into the hills fall into a similar range. These homes, built in the 1950s and 1960s, can be quite large, sometimes with more than four bedrooms, three or more bathrooms and more than 3,000 square feet of space.

History

“Your place in the sunshine” trumpets a brochure for Niels Schultz’ Millbrae Highlands development, dated 1939. “Less than 25 minutes takes you out of the fog into the all-year sunshine.” In one short decade, Schultz had completed Millbrae’s first major subdivision, turning empty hills into a fully-realized neighborhood, complete with schools and access to a rapidly growing downtown. Homes ranged in price from $6,000 to $15,000.

By any measure, Millbrae Highlands was a success from the moment Schultz broke ground on his first house. By the mid-1930s, Hazel Avenue resident Schultz counted at least two major league baseball players – Gus Suhr of the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankee Tony Lazzeri – as neighbors. Eight decades later, Millbrae Highlands takes its place among the other San Mateo County landmark neighborhoods like Burlingame’s Easton Addition, Redwood City’s Mt. Carmel and San Mateo’s Aragon.

There are those who prefer the sleek view homes of Mills Estate, but there is no arguing the charms of Millbrae Highlands. Nor is there any arguing its important. Niels Schultz’ vision transformed Millbrae from a rural settlement to a city.

Learn More About Highlands

The Highlands is one of the most sought after neighborhood in Millbrae

The homes in the Millbrae Highlands neighborhood are an amalgam of Spanish and Mission-style homes, along with a few English cottages and Tudors. Most homes have two stories, three or four bedrooms and more than 2,000 square feet of living space. Many have finished daylight basements. Some have more than 3,000 square feet of space. Their setting is traditional early 20th-century suburb: tree-lined streets located a short walk from downtown.