Pomeroy Green

Pomeroy Green is a housing complex in Santa Clara, California, USA construction in 1961. The two-story complex has sixteen multifamily buildings, with a range of configurations per building. Pomeroy Green was registered on the National Register of Historic Places on March 24, 2021.

History
The Pomeroy Green housing complex is located on the northeastern intersection of Pomeroy Avenue and Benton Street, next to the western boundaries of the city of Santa Clara, California. The complex occupies a primarily residential-zoned area of the city.

Consisting of sixteen multifamily buildings featuring diverse layouts, with each building accommodating a range of two-story townhouses, alongside a clubhouse set within landscaped surroundings.

On July 7, 1961, The Peninsula Times Tribune reported the inauguration of Pomeroy Green for $1.6 million on former orchard grounds. The townhouses have four bedrooms, two and a half baths, a multipurpose room, and private garden patios.

Eichler embarked on various experiments with multifamily communities, ranging from garden apartments to high-rises. His Pomeroy Green townhouse concept gained popularity due to its appeal to the burgeoning baby boomer generation. The housing options catered to a diverse range of households.

Since its inception, Pomeroy Green has functioned as a resident-owned multi-family housing cooperative. The original construction underwent inspections by both the Federal Housing Administration and city building inspectors.

Pomeroy Green's success paved the way for the development of Pomeroy West in 1963, another similar Eichler Homes endeavor situated on the opposite side of the street.

Design
The buildings are oriented along a north-south or east-west orientation, designed to surround motor courts, parking lots, or communal spaces. Constructed with concrete block walls and post-and-beam structures, they allow for extensive glass windows and sliding doors at both the front and rear of each townhouse. Wood siding and stucco panels are on the exterior walls. Uniform in size, each townhouse within a building mirrors its adjacent neighbor. Minor alterations have been made over time.

The buildings encompass a central communal area featuring a clubhouse and pool. The clubhouse has a construction and style akin to the townhouses. On one side of the room, there are floor-to-ceiling stationary windows and sliding glass doors are integrated into the post-and-beam framework, offering views of the pool and deck.

Historical status
Pomeroy Green was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2021. Pomeroy Green stands as historically significant in both Community Planning and Development for its innovative implementation of cluster development practices and in the realms of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, showcasing distinctive features of Modern building design, materials, and techniques designed by the regional builder Joseph Eichler, architect Claude Oakland, and landscape architects Sasaki, Walker and Associates.