There’s a rich history behind Fairway Oaks, a 1916 prairie-style estate in the exclusive East Bay community of Diablo. The architect behind San Francisco’s Legion of Honor designed it. Shirley Temple supposedly once slept in what’s now a kid’s bedroom. The man who built the house also built the exclusive town around it.
Whether that history is worth $19.5 million depends on a bet several local real estate agents are making as they try to sell the property at 1817 Calle Arroyo: that the AI money reshaping San Francisco’s luxury market is about to filter out to Diablo.
“It just takes the right buyer to come through,” said Marilee Headen, the local listing agent with Compass Real Estate. “With all the AI money coming, we’re anticipating some good interest soon.”
Headen argues that the property’s location is one of its assets. Robert Noble Burgess built it as his own home as he built out the Diablo Country Club, meaning the house and the exclusive community around it share an origin story and the club is a few houses away. “People are seeing the value over here — having a clubhouse a couple of doors away and a very exclusive country club,” she said…