Santa Barbara County Courthouse

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Santa Barbara County Courthouse
Santa Barbara County Courthouse.jpg
Santa Barbara County Courthouse, exterior view from the clock tower, showing the Sunken Garden
Santa Barbara County Courthouse is located in California
Santa Barbara County Courthouse
Location Santa Barbara, California
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Built 1926
Architect William Mooser III
NRHP Reference # 81000177[1]
CHISL # 1037[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP January 23, 1981
Designated NHL April 5, 2005[3]

The Santa Barbara County Courthouse is located at 1100 Anacapa Street, in downtown Santa Barbara, California. The Spanish Colonial Revival style building was designed by William Mooser III[4] 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.[3] The building replaced a smaller Greek Revival courthouse built at the same location in 1872–88 and badly damaged in an earthquake on June 29, 1925.[5][6]

Description

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.[4]

File:Santa Barbara Courthouse Plaque.jpg
Dedication plaque at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse

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.[5] In the past two years $150,000 was spent in maintenance and improvements.[7]

Occupying an entire city block, the grounds contain a collection of palms and specimen trees from more than 25 countries.[5] 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. [8]

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

  • Santa Barbara Courthouse Exterior.JPG

    Rear view of the Courthouse from E. Anapamu St.

  • Entrance slogan Santa Barbara County Courthouse.jpg

    Inscription above the main entrance: "Dios nos dio los campos El arte humana edificó ciudades."

  • English slogan in Santa Barbara County Courthouse .jpg

    God gave us the country, the skill of man hath built the town.

  • Interior view of the Courthouse

  • SB CountyCourthousePlaque 20150914.jpg

    California Historical Landmark plaque of the Courthouse

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 NHL Summary
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Historic Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Superior Court of California: Santa Barbara County.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Santa Barbara County Courthouse Official Website
  6. ↑ Santa Barbara County Courthouse. National Historic Landmark nomination. 2004.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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