J. Mora Moss House is a boldly romantic Carpenter Gothic style Victorian home located within Mosswood Park in Oakland, California.

It was built in 1864, bought by Oakland in 1912 and documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1960 at which point it was pronounced "One of the finest, if not the finest, existing examples of Gothic architecture of French and English influence as adapted to wood frame domestic architecture to be found in the East Bay Area, and possibly in Northern California.

From there he built a fortune in banking, ice and fur importing, canal and railroad building and telegraph and gas utilities.

After the death of Julia Wood Moss, the estate was subdivided: the northwestern section of the property was sold to developers who built single-family residential homes.

Oakland mayor Frank Kanning Mott, an advocate of the City Beautiful movement, pushed to save as much of the parcel as possible for public greenspace.

In 1907, Oakland voters approved a bond measure to buy the estate from Mott's bankers and turn it into a municipal park, thus preserving the main house.

The wrought-iron fence surrounding Mosswood was taken down and donated to a scrap iron collection drive during World War II.

[7] In the 1950s, an extensive community center addition was built adjoining the home in order to satisfy the demand for a greater number of students participating in art classes through the City of Oakland department of Parks and Recreation.

A federal survey of the historic building in 1960 noted that the interior woodwork showed signs of hard wear from years of public service.

The original main chimney vented flues from four fireplaces and rose in a slender pillar twelve feet above the roof at the symmetrical center of the building.

The doors have Gothic trefoil and quatrefoil panels and are made of thick soft wood incised to simulate black walnut.

Mirrored glass as well as plated, gilded and cast metal ornamental features were shipped around the Horn from France and England.

The main interior staircase is composed of three flights in a square 'U' shape and is finished in oak handrails supported by gothic arch balusters.