Published May 9, 2025 · Last updated: October 3, 2026
H. C. Elliott was a homebuilder whose work spread across the Tri-Valley during its major period of suburban growth. He entered the region in 1963 with Crestview in San Ramon Village, then expanded into Livermore, where he developed the Town Square community and its later Somerset phases. In Pleasanton, his projects ranged from Pleasanton Meadows to the much larger Vintage Hills development.
Elliott did not play the same role in every community. Some of his housing tracts were built within larger planned communities created by other developers, while others formed part of developments he assembled and built on a much larger scale. Together, these projects trace the growth of his homebuilding operation across San Ramon, Livermore, and Pleasanton.
Who was H. C. Elliott?
H. C. Elliott came to residential development with a builder's background. He learned the construction trade from his father, a contractor in Aberdeen, Washington, before establishing his own homebuilding company in California.
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| October 1968 newspaper photograph of H. C. Elliott, whose homebuilding company developed housing in San Ramon, Livermore, and Pleasanton. |
Before expanding into the Tri-Valley, Elliott had established a substantial homebuilding operation in Santa Barbara. His company developed the Crestview communities there, where it built approximately 1,500 homes. By 1968, Elliott said his companies had constructed more than 4,500 homes throughout California.
Elliott emphasized efficient construction methods as a way to produce well-built homes at attainable prices. That approach carried into his Tri-Valley work, although the scale and role of his developments changed as he expanded from individual housing tracts to larger residential communities.
Entering the Tri-Valley: Crestview
Elliott entered the Tri-Valley in 1963 after acquiring a substantial parcel of land from Volk-McLain Communities in San Ramon. Part of that property became Crestview, a 200-home housing tract within the larger San Ramon Village planned community. Elliott was therefore both a builder within Volk-McLain's development and a landholder whose property was later used for additional housing tracts.
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Annotated aerial map showing four housing tracts within the original San Ramon Village development. Elliott's Crestview occupied land acquired from Volk-McLain; part of the same property was later developed as Walnut Hills by Brown & Kauffmann. Base imagery from Apple Maps. Numbers indicate subdivision tracts. ① Brown & Kauffmann's Walnut Hills (1966) ② McGah & Bailey's Casa Manana (1965) ③ H. C. Elliott's Crestview (1963) ④ Volk-McLain's Country Club Park (1961) |
Crestview extended Elliott's use of a name already associated with his California homebuilding operation. His earlier Crestview developments in Santa Barbara had established the company as a builder of attainable suburban housing.
When Crestview opened a model complex in May 1964, Elliott offered five floor plans with multiple exterior elevations. The tract established his presence in the Tri-Valley and provided the starting point for a building operation that would soon expand into Livermore.
Explore Crestview, San Ramon: H. C. Elliott's 1963 housing tract
Building Town Square in Livermore
Elliott's next major project took him to Livermore, where he acquired land associated with a former World War II auxiliary airfield. In 1963, he purchased an initial 134 acres for $165,000, with plans to expand his holdings to more than 300 acres. The property became the foundation for Town Square, a large planned residential development that Elliott would build out in phases.
The former airfield was part of a larger area of north Livermore that was being redeveloped as the city expanded. The 1953 map below shows the naval air field and nearby sewage disposal facilities before the area was converted to residential use.
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| 1953 map of Livermore showing the former naval air field and nearby sewage disposal facilities on land later acquired by H. C. Elliott for the Town Square development. |
Working with design firm Livingston & Blayney, Elliott planned Town Square as more than a collection of individual housing lots. The development incorporated residential streets with schools, parks, and neighborhood shopping, creating a framework that could be expanded as additional land became available.
The first phase, the Town Square housing tract, opened for home sales on June 21, 1964. Elliott offered 412 homes at prices ranging from approximately $14,950 to $21,950. By 1967, the tract was complete, while improvements to Murrieta Boulevard and Jack London Boulevard connected the development to the expanding city around it.
Explore Town Square: H. C. Elliott's 1964 housing tract in Livermore.
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| 1967 map showing the completed Town Square housing tract and the northern expansion identified as Town Square North. |
From Town Square North to Somerset
In 1968, Elliott began developing the northern portion of the Town Square community as Town Square North. The new phase extended the development beyond the original 412-home tract and introduced a different approach to the house plans.
The signature design was the Somerset House, an expandable home that could begin as a two-bedroom, one-bath residence with an unfinished second story. Buyers could later complete the upper level, adding two bedrooms and another bathroom. The design allowed the house to accommodate a growing household without requiring buyers to purchase a larger home from the beginning.
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| 1968 ad introduced the Somerset House, a flexible home design by H.C. Elliott. Starting with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, it offered an unfinished second story that could later be completed with two more bedrooms and an additional bathroom. |
The expandable design became closely associated with the new development. Although the area was initially identified as Town Square North, Elliott's marketing increasingly used the name Somerset, and the new name ultimately became the lasting identity of the neighborhood.
The first Somerset homes sold quickly. Within 60 days of opening, Elliott had sold approximately 90 homes, and by the late 1960s his company accounted for roughly one-third of new housing construction in Livermore.
Somerset established a new phase in Elliott's Livermore development. What had begun as an expansion of Town Square became a distinct neighborhood identified with its own name and housing concept.
Explore Somerset: H. C. Elliott's 1968 housing tract in Livermore.
Expanding Somerset: South and West
Elliott continued expanding Somerset in the early 1970s. In 1970, he acquired additional land south of East Jack London Boulevard, including approximately 135 lots that had originally been developed by Jim Knuppe's Garden Homes. When Knuppe sold the remaining lots, Elliott purchased them and incorporated the area into the growing Somerset development.
The new area became known as Somerset South. By April 1971, the combined Somerset and Somerset South development had sold all 474 homes, extending Elliott's Livermore portfolio beyond the original Town Square tract and its northern expansion.
Elliott continued westward with Somerset West, a roughly 90-acre tract developed between 1972 and 1974. The project included 279 homes. Early phases reused successful Somerset-era models, while later homes introduced updated floor plans and a refreshed model complex that opened in 1973.
Somerset West was Elliott's final major residential tract in Livermore, completing a sequence of development that had begun with the original Town Square housing tract in 1964.
Explore Somerset West: H. C. Elliott's 1972 housing tract in Livermore.
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| Annotated aerial map showing the Town Square housing tract and later Town Square North, Somerset South, and Somerset West phases in Livermore. Base imagery from Google Maps. |
Expanding into Pleasanton: Pleasanton Meadows
Elliott expanded into Pleasanton in 1970 by taking over unfinished housing lots in Pleasanton Meadows. The larger community was associated with developer Oliver Rousseau, while Elliott entered as a builder after Galli Homes struggled to sell homes at prices that had proved difficult for the market.
Elliott completed 71 homes in Pleasanton Meadows between 1970 and 1971, offering four models priced in the mid-$20,000s. The development included a 10-acre linear park along with swimming pools and tennis courts, providing amenities alongside the housing.
The Pleasanton Meadows models also served another purpose for Elliott. They became the initial sales center for Vintage Hills, the much larger Pleasanton development he was building nearby.
Explore Pleasanton Meadows: H. C. Elliott's 1970 housing tract in Pleasanton.
Building Vintage Hills
Vintage Hills was a much larger undertaking. Elliott developed approximately 139 acres in Pleasanton into a 472-home residential community between 1970 and 1976, with homes built on the hillsides overlooking the surrounding area.
The development offered several architectural styles, including Spanish, Traditional, Ranch, and Colonial designs. Spanish arches became a recurring feature of the homes, while individual floor plans varied in their arrangement and amenities. One of the notable designs was the Huntington, which included a curved kitchen.
Vintage Hills also incorporated commercial space, with a shopping center serving the surrounding homes. Its size, range of house designs, and combination of residential and commercial uses made it a different scale of development from Elliott's earlier housing tracts.
Together, Pleasanton Meadows and Vintage Hills marked Elliott's expansion into Pleasanton, with Elliott taking different roles in two developments built during the same period.
Explore Vintage Hills: H. C. Elliott's 1970 housing tract in Pleasanton.
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| Annotated aerial map of the Vintage Hills development in Pleasanton, California. Base imagery from Google Maps. |
Collection
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