The Courthouse is a centerpiece of Santa Barbara’s Spanish Revival style and reflects the history and cultural diversity of the people who settled the region.
The Courthouse is a centerpiece of Santa Barbara’s Spanish Revival style and reflects the history and cultural diversity of the people who settled the region.
Pre-
1542
The First peoples, Chumash, lived here for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. +
Chumash communities thrived in Central California for over 12,000 years, from Morro Bay to Malibu, including on the Channel Islands. People spoke variations of a similar language, mastered the use of natural resources, built advanced sewn-plank canoes to navigate and harvest the sea, and traded actively using shell currency.
1542
Juan Cabrillo visited the area while exploring the coast and claimed the territory for Spain. +
Cabrillo sailed up the coast from Mexico to claim Alta California for Spain and was the first European explorer to visit the Santa Barbara Channel Islands -- fifty years after Columbus discovered the New World. Cabrillo died on the return trip months later. Spanish colonization then paused for many years.
1602
Sebastian Vizcaíno named the region in honor of Saint Barbara. +
1782
The town of Santa Barbara was born when the Spanish built a ‘Presidio’ (military fort). +
1786
Mission Santa Barbara was founded soon after the Spanish Presidio, and rebuilt after an 1812 earthquake. +
1822
Spain granted Mexico independence, including Alta (upper) California. +
Mexico’s independence from Spain brought a period of active local development and trade. Santa Barbara had large ranchos with thousands of cattle sold for hides and tallow to Eastern merchant ships. Van Cina’s painting depicts a party at the wedding of a daughter of local leader Jose de la Guerra to an Eastern merchant, written about in Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, published in 1840.
1846
Mexico and the United States fought over territory during the Mexican-American War. +
1850
-55
California statehood brought new laws and a courthouse for Santa Barbara County on the current location. +
1872
-90s
Santa Barbara grew rapidly and a Greek Revival Courthouse was built on this block, and later a Richardsonian Romanesque Hall of Records, styles popular in other U.S. cities. +
1915
-25
San Diego’s international exposition inspired a Spanish Revival movement across California. +
Local advocates Bernhard Hoffman, George Washington Smith, and others designed and built public buildings and homes in the new style, with white stucco, red tile roofs, arches, stone work, wood beams, wrought iron, and brightly painted accent tiles.
1925
June 29, 1925, a powerful earthquake caused major damage in Santa Barbara. +
County officials met shortly after the earthquake to draft goals for a new Spanish-Andalusian Courthouse. New building codes strengthened efforts to use more Spanish renaissance architecture in rebuilding Santa Barbara.
1926
-29
Design and construction of the new Santa Barbara County Courthouse was part of a city-wide rebuilding effort with broad community engagement. +
William Mooser II and his son William III, noted San Francisco architects, designed and built the new Courthouse. Construction took 2½ years and cost $1.4 million(>$20 million today). Over 1,500 tons of steel formed the framework to resist earthquakes.
1929
Santa Barbara’s new Courthouse opened and quickly became a hallmark of the city's new look.
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Santa Barbara’s Courthouse is an architectural treasure and a vibrant center of community pride: a functioning Courthouse, a National Landmark, and a place for many celebrations.
Please enjoy our informative self-guided tours while you explore the many treasures of the Courthouse.
Photo Credits: Robert Dickey, Robert Ooley, Marie Morrisroe, S.B. Historical Museum, and S.B. Public Library Edson Smith Collection except as otherwise noted. ~