Published June 15, 2025
In the booming real estate landscape of late-1970s San Ramon, no housing tract captured the moment quite like Casa Ramon. Built by W. W. Dean and Associates between 1976 and 1977, this 137-home development didn’t just sell well—it made history.
Casa Ramon homes and architectural style
When W. W. Dean introduced Casa Ramon in 1976, prospective buyers encountered the housing tract through its model homes. The models showcased the different designs, floor plans, and lifestyles the builder was offering to buyers in San Ramon.
The original Casa Ramon models
The original model homes provide a useful cross-section of Casa Ramon's architecture. W. W. Dean selected four models for the 1976 opening on Montevideo Drive. Although buyers could choose among different elevations and options, these models document the versions W. W. Dean chose to put on display.
The Plan 1
This model offered approximately 1,883 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| Original Plan 1 model today via Google Street View. |
The Plan 2
This model offered approximately 1,593 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
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| Original Plan 2 model today via Google Street View. |
The Plan 803
This model offered approximately 2,148 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.
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| Original Plan 803 model today (expanded) via Google Street View. |
The Plan 4
This model offered approximately 2,209 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.
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| A newspaper clipping of The Plan 4 model home, a spacious two-story design with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, totaling 2,209 square feet—one of the standout offerings in the Casa Ramon subdivision during its 1976 debut. |
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| Original Plan 4 model today via Google Street View. |
Marketing Casa Ramon
When the first preview sale launched in November 1976, buyers didn’t wait for model homes to open—they came ready to sign. In just 16 days, W. W. Dean sold 76 homes, sight unseen. By the time the first phase wrapped, all 89 homes were gone. Demand was so intense that by June 1977, as phase 2 opened, something extraordinary happened: 48 homes sold in a single day.
San Ramon had never seen anything like it. Homebuyers lined up before dawn—some with lawn chairs and thermoses—ready to claim their slice of the suburban dream.
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| Buyers line up outside the Casa Ramon sales office in 1977. The rush to purchase new homes illustrated the intense demand for housing in the San Ramon Valley during the late 1970s. |
Legacy of Casa Ramon
By late 1977, the model homes went up for sale, priced from $81,500 to $96,500—a big jump from the preview prices of $56,950 to $67,950 just a year earlier. Still, the market showed no signs of slowing down, and the tract quickly sold out.
Casa Ramon became an early symbol of what San Ramon would soon become: a place where families could dream big, upgrade their space, and join a fast-growing, vibrant community.
What started as an unassuming housing tract ended in a full-on housing craze—and helped shape the next chapter of suburban life in the valley.
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Related post
- Country Place: Larwin’s 1978 housing tract in San Ramon
- Rancho Ramon: Shapell's 1975 housing tract in San Ramon
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