Discover the Villa Park neighborhoods and developments including the origins of the sub-divisions, design features and communities.
Cerro Villa Heights
One might say Cerro Villa Heights was the first planned development in Villa Park. In 1920 the Jotham Bixby Co. sub-divided 250-acres for Valencia orange groves at the Bixby Ranch in the Villa Park district. Bixby Co. named this citrus sub-division Cerro Villa Heights and the orange groves located in the northeast hills of Villa Park. The Jotham Bixby Co. then began to sell parcels of this area to ranchers who subsequently built homes on approximately 10 – 15-acre lots with orange groves. Slowly, much like all of Villa Park, these large parcels of land were sold off to developers who sub-divided the parcels to mostly 1/2 to 1 acre homes that stand today.
Martinique Court
(Martinique Court)
Martinique Court is a 16 home luxury development built in 1999 off Lemon St and Mesa Dr. This Heritage Communities development originally included four floor plans in one- and two-story designs with about 4,200 to 5,600 square feet. The interiors provided four to six bedrooms and 4 1/2 to 5/12 baths. This 10-acre property was the last large single parcel of land left in Villa Park.
Prior to this single estate being divided up into 16 separate luxury homes it was owned by singer Jose Feliciano. Feliciano was a long time Villa Park resident who sang at Villa Park’s 25th anniversary, delighted the kids every Halloween with full size candy bars and kept dogs, chickens, ducks, goats and pig on the property.
Gainsborough Homes
(James Road, Fleet Street and Charter Road)
West of Center drive is a U-shaped tract built in 1962-1963 by John Clark. These ranch style homes on James Road, Fleet Street and Charter Road were inspired by the work of architect Cliff May. These 1/2 acres homes featured state of the art custom features such as AM-FM throughout the house, two fireplaces, copper water and gas piping, sliding glass doors, GE custom kitchens and much more. The living area ranged up to 3,850 sq. ft. with up to six bedrooms, four baths and three car garages. These homes originally started at $57,900 in 1962.
Villas 15
(El Rito Drive, El Moro Way)
The 15 acres of Cerro Villa Heights homes on El Rito and El Moro were advertised in 1964 as the Villas 15 with the catch phrase “Not just an address…it is a way of life”. Each home was designed to be distinctively different on 1/2 acre estates “nestled beautifully in the panoramic hills of highly restrictive Villa Park, an area set aside for the finest residential communities.” These homes originally started at $49,000.
Buccola Homes
(Sherwood Circle, Little John Way, Robin Hood Cirle)
In 1975 Buccolla homes developed a tract of homes across from the Town Center on Sherwood Cir., Little John Way and Robin Hood Cir. This area is one of the few areas of Villa Park where the lot sizes are zoned below 1/2 acre residential lots. The houses were designed by architects Earl G. Kaltenbach and Burton Romberger.
These houses originally ranged from 2,800 to 3,900 square on lots from 9,000 to 14,000 square feet. There are one and two story options in this neighborhood with original designs for three to four bedrooms and three to four baths. Features of the various plans include lanais, atriums, vaulted beam ceilings, laundry rooms, wet bars, formal dining rooms, breakfast rooms, family rooms and master suites with compartmented baths and walk-in closets. Most of the homes have two fireplaces.
Somerset Homes
(Larson Circle, Parker Circle)
Built by G.L. Lewis Builders and designed by Ade Collie in 1979-80 these 13 custom homes are nestled in the exclusive gated Somerset community in Villa Park. These architecturally distinctive homes can best be described at French Tudor, manor house or country chateau.
The homes originally had up to five bedrooms, unique family-game rooms, libraries, European type upper-level garrets, banquet rooms and spacious living rooms. Some of these properties have been updated and/or expanded from their original designs.
Havenwood Farms
(Villa Vista Way, N Colorado Lane)
This area of Villa Park is unique in that the City boundary line spreads across Meats onto these streets to make these houses part of Villa Park. Residents would actually need to drive out through Orange in order to access the rest of Villa Park. These boundaries reflect the unique history of Villa Park at the time of incorporation where boundary lines were a debate between the Cities of Orange and Villa Park, Orange County and the residents who were for or against incorporation.
Havenwood Farms, as the homes were marketed in 1978, has 11 half to two acre lots on Villa Vista Way and a few homes on N Colorado Lane (the other homes are in Orange). The builders were Sam Salkin and Gerald Yavitz. The houses were originally 3,300 to 4,200 square feet but some have since been updated with additional square feet, rooms, baths and more modern amenities. The homes came with two fireplaces, a wet bar and breakfast rooms as was standard for luxury homes in the 70s. Floor plan variations included 3 or 4 car garages, a game room, wine cellar, walk-in linen/storage closet or a laundry room.
Villa Park Estates
(Park Villa Lane, Park Villa Circle)
Villa Park Estates was developed by S.I.R. Developers, Inc. and is 16 homes on one-half acres lots off Villa Park Rd. and backing up to Santiago Creek. New home prices in 1975 ranged from $90,000 to $103,000.
Original features included two fireplaces, walk-in pantries, his and her master bath suites, a recreation room, separate utility room and a three-car garage. Additional design features included a sunken living room, vaulted ceilings, wet bar in the family room, and kitchen to patio pass-thru window. The exteriors have a combination of wood, brick and stone siding with concrete driveways and enclosed front courtyards.
The 16 homes had two different architectural designs. Plan 1 offered four bedrooms, three full baths, large family room, living room, formal dining room, breakfast nook, second level bonus room and a three-car garage. See the original layout.
Villa Isles
(Villa Isles Drive, Villa Isles Circle)
These 15 homes are called Villa Isles and were built by Harry Gates in 1976. Built on former citrus lands these one-half to three-quarter acre lot custom homes feature brick or stone veneer, a huge second story loft with a balcony and three wood burning fireplaces located in the living room, family room and the master bedroom.
The three different floor plans include 3,300 to 3,700 square feet and 3 1/2 or 4 baths. The living room features a wet bar and an exposed wood beam and tongue and grooved ceilings. The master bath originally had marble countertops, luminous ceilings, a separate shower stall, and a sunken Roman tub. Plus, walk-in closets in the master and most family bedrooms.
Villa Park Orchards
(Arden Villa Drive, Hummingbird Circle, Morningstar Circle, Orange Blossom Circle, Sunkist Circle, Three Arches Circle)
Situated across from the Town Center and surrounded on three sides by Orange, Villa Park Orchards is a gated community. Built in 1993 this 32-home, 9.8-acre neighborhood was developed by Valenti & Coelho with the architecture created by Richardson, Nagy, Martin, Architects and designer Raymond Salmi Associates. The homes have three floor plans (The Crestmont, The Barrington, The Huntington) ranging from 2,500 to 3,000 square feet including living rooms, dining rooms, family rooms with fireplaces and breakfast nooks. Some plans include atriums, step-up master retreats and first floor dens. Architectural appointments include clay-tile roofs, handcrafted solid-wood entry doors, sectional wood roll-up garage doors and wrought iron fencing for rear yards. This is one of the few neighborhoods in Villa Park with HOA dues.
The VPO name comes from the Villa Park Orchards Association which was established in 1912 and still exists today. The name is an ode to Villa Park’s citrus history and the neighborhood is the site of the old Sunkist Packing House. What to do with the old packing plant site was hotly contested item at the time between developers, Orange and Villa Park residents and the VP city council. At odds were developers who wanted to re-zone the area for smaller than half-acre lot sizes and nearby residents who did not want this. Ultimately there was a compromise where the area was re-zoned to lower lot sizes but not as low as the developers originally sought.
Patrician Homes of Villa Park
(Peppertree Drive, Joshua Tree Circle, Smoketree Lane, Smoketree Circle)
In 1973 Patrician-Butler Development built these homes in Cerro Villa Heights and marketed them as Patrician Homes of Villa Park. Originally, they sold for $69,900 to $94,400.
The lots range from one-half acre to one and one-quarter acres, on terraced, rural-like estates with three distinct floor plans. These one story designs have a minimum 3,400 sq. ft. of living space and 4 and 5 bedroom options with 2.5 to 4 baths.
Special features included wet bars, two huge woodburning fireplaces, sunken tubs, walk-in closets, breakfast nooks, patio serving windows and large master suites. The outside facades included slumpstone, driftwood, padre masonry and other heavy textures.
G.L. Lewis Homes
G.L. Lewis Builders built thousands of homes in Orange County and several hundred custom homes in Villa Park. Developments in Villa Park include Colony Orchard Homes, Colony Ridge, Colony Ridge Parkway, the gated community Somerset and more. They also built the gated community Crest de Ville across Cannon St. G.L. Lewis was also a Villa Park resident at one time residing on Crestview Circle.
Learn more about the history behind the streets of Villa Park.
More builders, architects and developments in Villa Park we’ll cover later:
- Blueridge (1968)
- Bodinus Homes
- Brynmar Estates (1972)
- Buena Vista Estates (1970)
- Colony Crest (1974)
- Colony Orchard Homes (1975)
- Colony Ridge (1970)
- Colony Ridge Parkway
- Estates at Villa Park
- Harry Gates – Villa Isles (1976)
- La Veta Ranchos (1972)
- La Veta Woods (1970)
- Old Lamplighter Estates
- Old Orchard (1962)
- Patrician Villa Park (also Patrician-Butler) (1970)
- Santiago Estates
- Southpoint (1970)
- Wynnfield Homes (1973)
- Plus more!
Villa Park, CA 92861 is located in Orange County, CA.