The Jensen House is one of the earliest houses built in the North Berkeley hills. George Jensen came from Denmark and was a contractor in Los Angeles before moving to Berkeley. Members of the Jensen family lived in the house for nearly a century. In 1912, following the influence of Berkeley’s Hillside Club and its advocacy that homes should blend with nature, the Victorian style house was clad in wooden shingles.

The Jensen House is one of only 50 buildings in this neighborhood that survived the 1923 Berkeley Fire. When the City’s water mains ran dry, the Jensens and some of their neighbors used water from a well on the property to save their houses.