Rose Walk was designed by Bernard Maybeck and completed in 1913 with donations from the neighbors. The walkway linked the Euclid Avenue streetcar line with residences higher on the hill.

After the 1923 Berkeley Fire swept through the neighborhood, the property bordering the walk was developed by Dr. Frank Gray and his wife, Florence Dickens Gray. The complex of houses, duplexes and cottages, built between 1924 and 1936, was designed by Henry Higby Gutterson.

Dr. Gray died not long after the housing was completed. Mrs. Gray, who often rented to University faculty, provided careful stewardship of the property for many years. She later sold it to Professor Dale Tillery of the School of Education. In 1990 he gave the rental units on Rose Walk to the University of California to provide housing for faculty. Rose Walk is Berkeley’s only pedestrian pathway where the buildings were designed to create an ensemble integrating the walk with a planned development. In 1959 Rose Walk was declared a “Work of Civic Art” by the City of Berkeley.