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Woodside’s historic 74-acre Green Gables estate made headlines as one of the most-expensive listings in the world when it officially hit the market for the first time ever in 2021. The property, which includes seven houses, three swimming pools, extensive gardens, its own reservoir and a Roman-style reflecting pool the size of a football field, is now being offered for sale as several individual lots.
Buyers can still purchase the whole estate for $125 million, or choose one or more of 10 estate lots – some with homes on them – ranging in size from 11 to 22 acres. The newly configured lots cost between $19 million and $55 million and can be purchased individually or in combination with other lots on the estate.
The 11.69 acres that include the 11,545 -square-foot, 29-room English-style Green Gables residence and the dramatic Roman pool is available for $55M. This portion of the estate is protected under a conservation easement with the national nonprofit Garden Conservancy, which means no additional homes can be built on the parcel and that the gardens, residence and landscape must be preserved.
Other homes and historic structures, including an equestrian barn, guest houses, pools, tennis courts and a dairy, can be expanded, moved or rebuilt, according to Marc Fleishhacker, whose family has owned the 114-year-old estate for six generations.
Fleishhacker said his family has always maintained the “romantic vision” that another family would want to buy the entire estate and experience life on a multi-family compound, as they have over the generations. Every June while growing up, Fleishhacker – whose great-grandfather, Mortimer Fleishhacker, built Green Gables – would come down from San Francisco with his parents to spend the entire summer in their home on the estate, along with his cousins and extended family, he said. With individual homes spread out on the property, there was plenty of independence, yet at the same time, lots of opportunity to come together as a family, he recalled.
“Our family’s desire has always been to sell Green Gables to that one special buyer who is seeking to replicate the full seven-home family compound experience that we have been so fortunate to enjoy,” Fleishhacker said. “Nevertheless we recognize that purchasing and managing an estate of this scale and size is a big undertaking, and for that reason, we decided to offer the market the opportunity to purchase a handful of beautiful lot combinations. This is something we have always had the possibility of doing ever since my great-grandfather purchased the many lots that became Green Gables, yet we had resisted up until now.”
The 74-acre estate sits on a hill overlooking terraced gardens and a lily pond. Down a flagstone staircase stands a 300-foot Roman pool, bordered at the end with open stone arches. Photo courtesy Green Gables. 
The Roman-style reflecting pool the size of a football field,. Photo courtesy Green Gables. 
The main home and surrounding gardens, which are being offered for $55 million, are protected under a conservation easement announced by the Garden Conservancy, which means no additional homes will be built on this portion of the property. Photo courtesy Green Gables. 
One of the outbuildings is a small rock building with two stories. The lower story was used as a dairy. Above, the open porch with arched windows was intended as a tea house where Bella Gerstle Fleishhacker could serve afternoon tea. However, the dairy house was too far from the main house to make tea parties practical. Photo courtesy Green Gables. 
Built in 1933 for Mortimer Fleishhacker’s sister, this six-bedroom house sits on a 15.03-acre parcel and includes a pool. its own private pool. Renowned Northern California Architect William Wurster ably structured the home to provide for numerous bedrooms, a gazebo-like dining room and as well as separate guest quarters.The Wurster House sits on a 15.03-acre parcel and includes a pool. Famed architect William Wurster, who is widely known as California’s first great modernist, was the home of Mortimer and David Fleishhacker’s sister, Delia F. Ehrlich. This parcel is being offered for $19 million. Photo courtesy Green Gables.
A summer retreat with 7 homes
Built in 1911 by wealthy San Franciscans, banker and businessman Mortimer Fleishhacker and his wife, artist Bella Gerstle Fleishhacker, as a summer retreat to escape San Francisco’s seasonal wind and fog, Green Gables is a rare remaining example of the great estates that once dotted the area.
The English country-style main house and gardens were designed by brothers Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, better known as Greene and Greene, celebrated architects of the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The estate is rare not only for its design and amenities, but also for its size and location.
The estate, located at 329 Albion Ave. in central Woodside near the intersection of Albion and Manuella avenues, offers expansive views of the hills: The Greene brothers designed the main house to maximize the views of the estate’s grounds and gardens.
In addition to the main house, architect Charles Greene lent his design talents to the estate’s Tea & Dairy House, a rustic two-story stone building. It was built at Bella Fleishhacker’s request as a place to host tea parties, and at one time housed a working dairy that processed milk, back when the estate had cows.
Greene is also credited as the designer of Green Gables’ free-form swimming pool. Built in 1916, it’s considered to be the first pool of such a design on the West Coast, and perhaps in the nation. Greene and Greene weren’t the only famed architects that the Fleishhackers tapped to build out Green Gables: Among the estate’s seven houses is the Wurster House, a six-bedroom, two-story residence built in 1933 and designed by renowned Modernist architect William Wurster.
This isn’t the first time Green Gables has been on the market. The estate was up for sale in 2015 and 2018, but it wasn’t formally put on the market. In 2018, the family was reportedly seeking about $160 million for the estate. In 2021, it was formally put on the market for $135 million. At the time, the estate was the most expensive listing in California, according to Zillow, and ranked in the top 25 most expensive listings worldwide, according to luxury magazine Robb Report.
“There may not be another estate of this size in the country that can offer its owner such an unusual combination of privacy and jaw-dropping scenic views, all within walking distance to Town Center shops, restaurants and the acclaimed Woodside School,” said Realtor Helen Miller, who is listing agent with Brad Miller.
