Morcom Rose Garden

The project was sponsored by the Business Men's Garden Club, and has the support of the city government, which will carry out the work through its park department, according to the plans of Arthur Cobbledick, landscape architect.

The Jean Street entrance on the south end welcomes visitors with a classical curved colonnade, backed by stone walls, and a rose-lined walkway, flanked by a small service building.

The middle section features a reflecting pool encircled by rose beds and an elegant, 14-step cascade down the hillside to the west.

Facing the pool and cascade from the east is a Mediterranean style loggia, which serves as an office and storage space.

A large Florentine oval garden at the north end has terraced flower beds rising on all sides, held in place by elegant rock walls.

Soon after the opening, the Oakland Tribune reported an offer from the SERA of $29,460 in labor, if the city would match it with $14,600 in materials (June 27, 1934).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was launched in mid-1935, would not have played any role in the gardens, despite being credited by the Oakland Heritage Alliance and by an historical marker near the park entrance (which puts the date in 1932, before the New Deal).