Nestled in a lush rose and flower garden, Morning Glory Cottage was named for its abundant, colorful morning glories. Built circa 1886, the house is a significant link to Central Berkeley’s early development. It is one of the few surviving examples in Berkeley of the Gothic Revival style, popularly known as Carpenter Gothic.

The house was built for Samuel Clarence Clark, a railroad employee like many early residents of the neighborhood, which is situated in the Clapp Tract. In the mid-1870s, Joseph Lewis Clapp (c. 1828–1886), a forty-niner and farmer, had purchased 15 acres of land west of Shattuck Avenue. When the Berkeley Branch line of the Central Pacific (later Southern Pacific) Railroad was extended to downtown Berkeley in 1876, farmers began to subdivide their land into building lots. After 1878, the year Berkeley was incorporated, the rail line was extended one mile farther north to the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Vine Street, making the area still more convenient and attractive for development.

For many years, it was believed that the Morning Glory Cottage was built for Joseph Clapp, but research has revealed that the real Clapp home still stands at 1904 Milvia Street/1942 Hearst Avenue.