The Heritage San Jose, CA

Master-planned by SummerHill Homes, the Heritage is a hillside community of attached and detached homes in San Jose, California. Located only ten minutes from downtown and within walking distance from the city's light rain line, the Heritage offers a perfect mix of housing options that range from the first time buyer to the third time buyer.

During the design process, the site proved to be extremely difficult due to a hillside with grade changes up to 12%. The architecture was designed with two-story, three-story and tuck under products allowing MVE to pick up grade with the homes and eliminate the use of exterior stairs and retaining walls. The Vista's, a series of three duplex buildings, are each designed to work with the varying grade conditions on the site. The Vista's are attached homes with large sq.ft. and are intended for young married couples or small families. Plans have back yards and typically include a family room/bonus room space. The Ventana's are slightly smaller homes with two- and three-story plans that help to step down the hillside. The Ventana's incorporate side/rear porches on decks that helped create more privacy from the street. Beacon Hill consists of the smallest homes in the community, mostly tuck under and three-story products to pick up grade across the site. The front porch was the owners open space. These homes were intended for a first time buyer or single/young couples. Each building works together to gradually step down the hillside to allow the homes to feel more a part of the landscape.

The architectural styles were inspired by early California themes of more casual, Spanish influenced architecture, to more formal and stately buildings. The character of the buildings create a more formal appearance to the street, which was a desire of the City.