University South walking tour

University South is the neighborhood around Professorville. Most visitors walk straight through it on the way to the HP Garage and never notice the rest. That rest is worth a look. It holds a former medical campus turned into a park, a 1902 church, the first home of Palo Alto's Black congregation, the site of a lost Bernard Maybeck church and an 11-story tower that was a bold move for a low town in 1964.

This walk covers those places and leaves the Professorville core to our Professorville walking tour. Read our University South guide for boundaries, schools and parking.

Before you go

The route is about 1.8 miles one way. Allow 1 to 1.25 hours with stops. Both are our estimates. It begins on Homer Avenue, about a 10 minute walk from the Palo Alto Caltrain station. It ends at Embarcadero Road. The streets are flat and lined with old trees.

• Getting there: From the station, walk east on University Avenue and south on High or Emerson Street to Homer.
• Parking: Many blocks have residential permit rules. Downtown garages are the easier choice.
• Best days: The Museum of American Heritage opens only Friday to Sunday, so a weekend walk lets you add it.

Coffee at the start

Start at Peet's Coffee, 153 Homer Avenue, near the station end of Homer. Our business directory checked its hours on October 30, 2026: it opens at 5 a.m. on weekdays. Weekend hours differ, so check before you go. After this stop the route is residential, with no cafes until you return downtown. Our coffee guide lists other choices a block or two north.

The route, stop by stop

1. Homer Avenue, 200 block. Walk east from Peet's. This short stretch has an unusual cluster of inventory buildings. The city rates 200, 206 to 210, 209 and 232 Homer in Category 2 and 201, 212 to 214 and 248 Homer in Category 3. Look at the mix of small commercial fronts and houses on a single block.
2. Roth Building, 300 Homer Avenue. Birge Clark designed this 1932 building for the Palo Alto Medical Clinic. Step into the covered gallery to see Victor Arnautoff's 17 frescoes, Modern and Ancient Medicine, finished the same year. Four large color panels show doctors at work. Gray panels painted to look like carved stone show medicine in earlier times. The city owns the building and plans to open it as the Palo Alto History Museum. That opening was postponed in January 2026 after water leaks, with no new date. Our Palo Alto Medical Clinic history explains the doctors behind it.
3. Heritage Park. The lawn beside the Roth Building was part of the medical campus until the clinic moved in 1999. The city opened the park on March 12, 2006. A single sentinel redwood stands in the middle. In the playground sand is a large coast live oak that the city moved here in 2003 from 819 Ramona Street, your next stop. Each May the fair after the May Fete Children's Parade fills this lawn. See our Heritage Park guide.
4. Museum of American Heritage, 351 Homer Avenue. Across the street, the 1907 Williams House by Ernest Coxhead holds a museum of everyday technology. It is rated Category 2. Its back garden is a quiet place to sit when the museum is open.
5. University AME Zion's first church, 819 Ramona Street. Walk back west and turn south on Ramona. The National Trust for Historic Preservation describes University AME Zion as founded in 1918 and as the oldest continuously operating historically Black church in Silicon Valley. In 1925 the congregation built this small stucco church. It sold the building in 1965 and has worshiped at 3549 Middlefield Road since then. The building was restored in 2009, is rated Category 3 and now holds offices. Our page on Palo Alto's historic congregations tells the full story.
6. St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 751 Waverley Street. Head east to Waverley. This Carpenter Gothic church was founded in 1901, completed in June 1902 and dedicated in November 1903, which makes it the oldest church building in town by most accounts. The city rates it Category 2. Next door, 745 Waverley was added to the inventory in 2009, also in Category 2. The church is an active parish, so step inside only when it is open and no service is under way.
7. The lost Maybeck church, Cowper Street at Channing Avenue. Walk to this corner and picture a Bernard Maybeck design. The Berkeley architect drew a church for Palo Alto's Unitarians here, paid for by Frances A. Hackley of Tarrytown, New York. It was dedicated on March 24, 1907 and was later demolished. Nothing marks the spot, which is why it belongs on a walk.
8. Channing Avenue, 600 and 700 blocks. Walk east along Channing. The inventory lists 633 and 764 Channing in Category 3 and 627 Channing in Category 4. Compare their porches and rooflines with the newer houses between them.
9. Channing House, 850 Webster Street. At Webster stands the tallest building on the route. The Seattle firm John Graham and Company designed this 11-story retirement community. It opened on January 27, 1964. Dr. Russel V. A. Lee, the clinic doctor from stop 2, led the effort. The site has its own history. In 1900 voters approved a bond for a high school building here. On December 24, 1918, students and staff marched from this corner to the new Palo Alto High School campus on Embarcadero Road. Our Russel Lee biography covers his other projects.
10. Scott Park, Scott Street at Channing Avenue. Continue east to this small neighborhood park on the quiet side of University South. It is a good place to rest before the last leg.
11. Webster and Tasso streets to Embarcadero Road. Head south on Webster. The inventory lists 1022, 1026, 1128 and 1151 Webster in Category 4. Near the end, 1400 Webster is Category 4 and 1432 Webster is Category 3. One block west, 1410 and 1416 Tasso are Category 4. Finish at Embarcadero Road. Gamble Garden at 1431 Waverley is three blocks west if you want a garden to end in.

How the north end changed

The first four stops sit in the area planners call SOFA, short for South of Forest Avenue. For most of the 20th century the Palo Alto Medical Clinic and its successor foundation filled these blocks. When the foundation moved to El Camino Real around 1999, the city planned the land for housing and open space. Heritage Park, the new homes around it and the saved Roth Building all came out of that plan. The transplanted oak in the playground is a small symbol of the deal: the city chose to keep a mature tree rather than lose it to construction.

What to look for

• Church forms. Pointed windows and a steep roof at St. Thomas Aquinas. A plain stucco front at 819 Ramona. They were built 23 years apart for very different congregations.
• Mixed scale. Single-family houses next to small apartment buildings and one tower. University South has always held renters as well as owners.
• Inventory houses outside the district. The Professorville historic district covers only part of the neighborhood. Several houses on Webster, Tasso and Channing are on the city inventory without being inside the district.

The category numbers come from the city's Historic Inventory. Category 2 is a "Major Building" of regional importance. Categories 3 and 4 are "Contributing Buildings." The city's historic registers page has the full list.

Accessibility notes

• The route is flat with continuous sidewalks on most blocks. Tree roots have raised the paving in places on Channing and Webster.
• Major crossings at Homer Avenue, Channing Avenue and Embarcadero Road have signals or marked crosswalks. Embarcadero carries heavy traffic, so use the signal.
• Heritage Park has picnic tables and drinking fountains. The city lists no restrooms there, so plan a stop at the start.
• To shorten the walk, stop after Channing House and take Bryant Street, the bike boulevard, back north to downtown.

Sidewalk etiquette

Sources

Inventory categories come from the City of Palo Alto's Historic Inventory list. Channing House dates and architects come from the Pacific Coast Architecture Database. Church histories follow the National Trust for Historic Preservation, parish history and our congregations page. Distances and times are our estimates. If a sign or plaque on site disagrees with this page, trust the sign.

Frequently asked questions