Rose Walk (Path #102)
Path data:
Lower Street
(Adjacent Addresses) |
Upper Street
(Adjacent Addresses)
|
Notes |
| 1400 Euclid |
2555 Rose |
40 steps, sloping |
Photos (click on thumbnail to display photo):
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From our pages on Path Stories:
Maybeck Designed Rose Walk
By SARAH WIENER-BOONE Special to the Planet
(December 9, 2003)
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The Rose Walk Story: Step by Step
Berkeley Path Wanderers Association Newsletter -- Summer 2002 -- Vol. 5 No. 3
1905–10: The Oakland Traction Company extends its streetcar line up Euclid Avenue to the end of the line at Regal Road. The San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 accelerates Berkeley population growth. Thus there is a need for more than a dirt footpath from Berryman-Rose streetcar stop on Euclid to Le Roy, and the homes in the Hopkins Terrace #4 and La Loma Park tracts above.
c 1910: City engineer J.J. Jessup submits at least six different plans for a path on the Rose Street right of way bordering Peoples Water Company’s Berryman Reservoir property, between Euclid and Le Roy. His plans are not acceptable to the Hillside Club and neighbors.
1911: A committee including Dr. William W. Underhill forms to oversee building the path, and architect Bernard Maybeck donates design services. His working titles include Rose Path and Rose Pass. His plans show that a large portion of the walk is on water company land. From the Jan. 9, 1911, minutes of the Hillside Club: “Dr. Underhill was called upon to tell of the winding walk which is to be constructed from Euclid Ave. to Le Roy along the Reservoir fence, to be constructed of concrete, bordered with hedges of roses and decorative trees.” In 1908 Peoples Water Company leases the land surrounding the reservoir to the City and Hillside Club for 15 years at $1.00 per year. The committee raises money to build the path by subscription from the neighbors. Dr. Underhill must have been a contributor to the fund, giving rise to erroneous family lore that he “gave the land for the path to the city.”
c 1912–13: Construction of the path commences. Cost of three “Boulevard Lamp Posts” is quoted at $29.50 each. Nine urns will cost $12.00 each plus $1.00 installation. The bill for the “cement work done on Rose Path” is $180.98, with the cement foreman paid 75 cents an hour. Electrical work to hook up the three lamps is $160.27.
Jan. 4, 1913: Dr. Will Underhill dies of a heart attack while at a Hillside Club dance. Dr. Underhill played an important role in the building of the walk. The quotes and invoices for supplies were addressed to him on Tamalpais Road. The walk is a testimonial to his work as well as a Maybeck landmark. After his death, cousin Reuben L. Underhill, also on Tamalpais Road, acts in his behalf.
July 3, 1913: Certificates of payment are issued by Maybeck & White to J.J. Jessup, to be forwarded to the Oakland Paving Company. The path is finished! There must have been a dedication ceremony to mark the completion, but no newspaper reports or photographs of it have been found.
Sept. 17, 1923: Berkeley fire destroys over 600 homes, many in Rose Path area.
c 1924: Eleven years after completion of the path, Dr. Frank Gray and his wife Florence buy land between the path and the reservoir from EBMUD. The Grays build Codornices Road edging the reservoir and the beautiful Gutterson duplexes fronting on Rose Walk. The walk’s layout is modified somewhat to accommodate their project. Houses by Winfield Scott Wellington and others are later built on the road. The Grays complete their project in the 1930s by building houses on the walk’s south side.
1947–48: The Le Roy Avenue entrance is demolished by the Berkeley Public Works Department. The city builds a massive traffic safety barrier in its place to stop runaway autos coming down Rose Street from leaving the roadway and crashing into houses.
1959: Rose Walk is declared a “Treasure of Civic Art” and a protected landmark by the newly formed Civic Art Commission. 1960: The commission raises money and carries out a restoration, including of the Renaissance Revival stairway facing Euclid Avenue.
1975: Berkeley passes its Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. Rose Walk is among the first 10 structures so designated. 2002: The walk’s present condition is not good. Forty-two years after restoration and 89 years after it was built the walk is showing signs of aging. The retaining wall holding up the long, sloping walk leading to Le Roy is seriously cracked in two places and is tilting noticeably. The pavement and steps are developing small cracks and the tinted surface is wearing away. It’s time for another restoration project!
[This was in the original article!] 2013: Berkeley residents celebrate a beautifully restored Rose Walk’s Centennial.
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