Santa Barbara County Courthouse
Completed 1872
Once the pride of Victorian Santa Barbara, by the 1920s the Greek Revival courthouse was overwhelmed by the growth of the county and out of step with the region's Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial architectural movements. A 1925 earthquake settled the question of what to do with the old courthouse, and by 1929 Santa Barbara had a new Spanish-style courthouse that is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Above the entrance to the current courthouse is the inscription "God Gave Us the Country, the Skill of Man Hath Built the Town."
Courtesy Seaver Center for Western History Research, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
