Santa Barbara County Courthouse

Santa Barbara County Courthouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
California Historical Landmark No. 1037
Santa Barbara County Courthouse, exterior view from the clock tower, showing the Sunken Garden
Location	Santa Barbara, California
Coordinates	34°25′27.66″N 119°42′8.86″W
Area	4.65 acres (1.88 ha)
Built	1926
Architect	J Wilmer Hershey
NRHP reference No.	81000177
CHISL No.	1037
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	January 23, 1981
Designated NHL	April 5, 2005

The Santa Barbara County Courthouse is a Spanish Colonial Revival style building designed by William Mooser III and completed in 1929. Architect Charles Willard Moore called it the "grandest Spanish Colonial Revival structure ever built," and the prime example of Santa Barbara's adoption of Spanish Colonial as its civic style.

Located at 1100 Anacapa Street, in downtown Santa Barbara, California. the building replaced a smaller Greek Revival courthouse built there in 1872–88 and badly damaged in an earthquake on June 29, 1925. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2005 for its architecture.

Description

Red tile roofs in Santa Barbara. Circular tower at center is the old County Jail.

The courthouse is composed of four buildings, totaling 150,000 square feet (14,000 m²). It includes a Jail Wing, which is no longer used to hold prisoners. Visitors may take elevators to the summit of the 85 ft (26 m) "El Mirador" clock tower, which has labeled photographs that show what the viewer is looking at in all directions.

Currently, the Santa Barbara County Courthouse is undergoing several restoration projects in the various wings, and just finished restoring the disintegrating fountain in the front. In the past two years $150,000 was spent in maintenance and improvements.

Occupying an entire city block, the grounds contain a collection of palms and specimen trees from more than 25 countries. The courthouse hosts many events, particularly at the Sunken Garden, site of the 1872 courthouse. As of 2015, almost 7,000 visitors from 60 countries came to visit in the past year.

Façade

The main entrance to the courthouse features a large façade depicting two enthroned figures; between the figures is an inscription of a Spanish translation of a quote from Marcus Terentius Varro. The equivalent English translation is found on the right door to the right.

Gallery

• 
  "Reason is the Life of the Law"
• 
  Inscription above the main entrance: "Dios nos dio los campos. El arte humana edificó ciudades." This translates to "God gave us the fields. Human art built cities."
• 
  Sunken Garden and clock tower
• 
  Interior view of the Mural Room
• 
  Main entrance and clock tower
• 
  Front view of the courthouse

See also

• History of Santa Barbara, California
• California Historical Landmarks in Santa Barbara County, California

Further reading

• Patricia Gebhard and Kathryn Masson, Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Photos by Daniel Chen. 2001, Daniel & Daniel, Santa Barbara. ISBN 1880284456
• McDevitt, Ray; George, Ronald M., Chief Justice of California -forward (2001). Courthouses of California: an Illustrated History. Berkeley, CA: California Historical Society. p. 365. ISBN 1-890771-49-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

• The Historic Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Superior Court of California: Santa Barbara County
• Santa Barbara County Courthouse Official Website
• Visiting the Court House
• View of the Anacapa Arch at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, Santa Barbara, California, 1929. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
• Image of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse under construction, Santa Barbara, California. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.