Pictorial Tour of HP
on Page Mill Road
Updated Sept. 2,
2007
I took these pictures by walking up and down Page Mill Road
during my trip to Palo Alto in early June, 2007. Unlike other companies
with huge fancy signs, the main HP sign is small and non-obtrusive. One
could easily drive past the headquarters and never know it was there. The
building complex is huge but it is so well built into the hill with trees that
it is almost invisible from the road. Thus, most of what you will
see in the following pictures are the road and trees.
Page Mill Road runs
Northeast. The first HP locations were just north of the intersection
with El Camino Real (Highway 82). The present day locations are about
one-half to one mile to the south in what is known as the Stanford Research Park
just across the road from the Stanford University Campus.
As you can see in the pictures, each building is surrounded by
beautiful trees and nature. This extends back into areas I can not show.
There is a very peaceful atmosphere around all of the buildings. That has
to be highly inspirational.
This is the front of the old headquarters built in 1957 at
1501 Page Mill Road. The intersection is one of the eastern entrances
to the Stanford University
campus (behind me). You can see the famous sawtooth roof which was designed
for maximum solar lighting as all of these buildings face North
to within one degree -- thus the sun is always shining on the
skylight. There is a huge array of buildings behind this one with many acres
of floor space. Use Google satellite view of this address to how
vast the complex is. Each building one acre in size. The
preserved offices of Bill and Dave are in the next building behind this
one. The original HP logo is on the side of the building and now is mostly
obscured by the tree. This is at the top of what is known as Page Mill
hill.
This
view is just to the right
of the view in the previous picture and you can see the main entrance to the old
headquarters. HP Labs is located here.
This is
a side view as seen from the sidewalk along Page Mill Road of the building showing the original
HP. This is about the best view one can get now from the
road.
Looking
down Page Mill Road from across the street of the entrance to the
old headquarters. This is known as Page Mill hill as you can see.
The new headquarters is not visible but is to the right at the intersection
at the bottom of the hill. A few blocks further down the road on the
right but not visible in the picture are the first locations
of HP on Page Mill Road. The mountains are across the San Francisco Bay which is
just a short distance past the last trees.
A view of Page Mill Road just up the
hill from the present HP headquarters. The headquarters complex is well hidden
behind the trees on the right.
The HP headquarters is to the
right of the intersection of Page Mill Road and Hanover. A tree obscures
much of the white HP sign on the right. To the right you can see a corner
of the first parking lot in front of building 20A.
The
intersection of Page Mill Road and Hanover going to
HP headquarters. Notice the small HP sign. This is the main entrance.
The HP
headquarters on Hanover as seen from across Page Mill Road. You can see
the main sign and the main entrance to the first parking lot in the upper left
of the picture.
A close view of the intersection at Hanover showing the
main HP sign.
The main entrance to Building 20A off of Hanover which is
about two to three hundred feet from the intersection at Page Mill Road.
Another
view of the main entrance to building 20A.
A view of the front of building 20A. There is a large
lobby in front and a large room to the right where two associates and I gave
presentations of our historical work to the HP Retired Employees Club on June 4,
2007. There are two more buildings connected to this one going up the hill
but they are not visible.
The side of building 20A as seen from Page
Mill Road. Most of the building is hidden by trees and there is only one
spot along Page Mill Road where the building can be seen at all.