To overcome shortcomings that rocking steel frame structures require numerous internal self-centering joints and corresponding rocking interfaces, and reducing the special design requirements for infill walls and floor slabs to adapt to rocking displacement, this paper introduces a proposed integral rocking and self-centering structure (IRSS) based on integral thinking approach, and the superstructure of IRSS is the same as a conventional moment-resisting steel frame. Firstly, it elaborates on the structural composition and working principle. Then, a simplified mechanical analysis model and design procedure of the IRSS system was proposed. A 1/6 scaled steel frame model was fabricated for shaking table tests to investigate the seismic performance of IRSS, including deformation mode, damage state evolution and post-earthquake residual deformation. Finally, finite element simulations were performed on structures with different height-to-width and length-to-width ratios to evaluate the applicability of IRSS. Test results indicate that under seismic actions of different intensities, the steel frame mainly undergoes integral rigid body rotation around the centroid of the rocking layer. After maximum considered earthquakes (MCE), the residual deformation of the steel frame is nearly zero, and the local strains of the steel frame do not reach the yield strain. The natural vibration frequency of IRSS decreases by only 3.4% (X-direction) and 0.88% (Y-direction) after MCE, indicating negligible stiffness degradation. Furthermore, the expected proportion of rigid body displacement of IRSS obtained from mechanical analysis method agree well with experimental results, and IRSS can achieves excellent seismic performance with different height-to-width and length-to-width ratios through simulation results.