San Mateo Eichlers / The Lexington
Brochure · 7 pages · later 1950s
The Lexington.
“With breathtaking views in The Highlands · San Mateo.” Green and black, and the one we reach for most. It names sixteen suppliers in two paragraphs, and it carries the two price cards — six plans, six prices, and the financing terms in full. This is the most complete original price record for this tract we have seen anywhere.
Download the whole brochure
Scanned by us from our own copy — the PDF is the whole booklet, the JPEGs are one file per page. Single pages download from the JPEG ↓ link under each scan below. Free to use. If you are researching this tract, take it.
Almost nobody quotes the rest of the card: that the monthly payments include taxes and insurance, that the GI terms include the veteran's tax exemption and the FHA terms do not, that houses on extra large lots were $500 extra, and that all down payments are plus closing costs. The full table is below.
Every page, in order
All seven sheets.
Click any page to open the full-size JPEG. Pages five and six are the price cards.
Pages five and six
Six plans, six prices, and the terms.
| Plan | Price | GI down | GI monthly | FHA down | FHA monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SM-100 | $17,950 | $500 | ~$121 | $3,050 | ~$118 |
| SM-104 | $19,950 | $800 | ~$130 | $3,650 | ~$125 |
| SM-223 | $19,950 | $800 | ~$130 | $3,650 | ~$125 |
| SM-124 | $20,500 | $1,150 | ~$132 | $3,800 | ~$127 |
| SM-114 | $20,950 | $1,300 | ~$136 | $3,950 | ~$129 |
| SM-134 | $21,950 | $1,950 | ~$138 | $4,150 | ~$127 |
Look at the cheapest plan. Its FHA payment is lower than its GI payment, which looks like a misprint until you read the note: the GI terms include the veteran's tax exemption and the FHA terms do not, so the two columns are not measuring the same thing. Standard on every plan: built-in Thermador range and oven, built-in Hotpoint dishwasher, Waste King garbage disposer, engineered radiant heat, Armstrong cork floors, and an extra large two-car garage. The full price page →
Room dimensions are printed on the plan thumbnails at a size our scans cannot resolve, so we have not transcribed them. The plans are single-storey, three and four bedroom, each with a terrace, an all-purpose room and a two-car garage.
Page three
Sixteen suppliers, named.
This is why this brochure matters more than its seven pages suggest. When an owner asks what is original in their house, this is the document that answers it.
| Component | Named supplier | What the brochure says |
|---|---|---|
| Living-area flooring | Armstrong cork | “Armstrong cork floors cover the living area.” |
| Kitchen flooring | Asphalt tile | “Grease-proof asphalt tile floor is easy to keep sparkling.” |
| Glass | Pittsburgh | “Window walls of Pittsburgh crystal glass.” |
| Sliding glass doors | Arcadia | “The finest made” — aluminium framed, fully screened. |
| Sliding windows | Rusco steel | Fully screened and weather-stripped. |
| Counters and snack bar | Formica | “Heat and scratch resistant and easy to clean.” |
| Range and oven | Thermador Masterpiece | Super-sized built-in electric. “Saves stooping to use oven.” |
| Dishwasher | Hotpoint / Waste King | The price cards say Hotpoint; the Brandywine brochure says Waste King. Both appear. |
| Garbage disposer | Waste King | “Eliminates all garbage quickly and quietly.” |
| Water heater | A. O. Smith | Permaglas lined, guaranteed ten years. |
| Garage door hardware | Stanley | Sliding garage doors on Stanley hardware. |
| Door hardware | Sargent | “Lifetime brass doorknob.” |
| Stains and paint | Samuel Cabot, General Paints | Interior and exterior. |
| Cabinet finish | Zolatone | “A washable plastic paint.” |
| Water pipe | Copper | “Rust-proof copper water pipe.” |
| Panelling | Philippine mahogany | “Its rich, beautiful grain adds charm and luxury.” |
Two of these settle arguments we see regularly. The windows are Rusco — the F. C. Russell Company — not “Rasco.” And the original kitchen floor is asphalt tile, not cork; the cork stopped at the living area. The full specification page →
The green map marks a “PROPOSED SCHOOL SITE” and a “PROPOSED 10-ACRE SHOPPING CENTER”, both inside the tract outline. Highlands Elementary and Crystal Springs Village both exist now. When this was printed they were drawings.
The text puts San Francisco at “just 30 minutes away, via scenic Skyline Boulevard” — before I-280. And the back cover gives the entrance as half a mile south of the Crystal Springs Road junction on Skyline, with the sales office at 2001 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, DAvenport 3-0217. You drove down the Peninsula to buy a house on the hill.
Then, in six-point type at the foot of the back cover: “We reserve the right to change prices and plans at any time.”