page_title: Ventura County Courthouse
section_title: The building and historic designations
hierarchical_section_title: Ventura County Courthouse / The building and historic designations
caption_attribution_description: English: Terra cotta friars' heads at Ventura City Hall
context_page_description: The Ventura County Courthouse, known since 1974 as Ventura City Hall, is a historic building in Ventura, California. It is located on a hill at the top of California Street, overlooking the city's downtown district with views of the Santa Barbara Channel and Channel Islands. It was the first building in the City of Ventura to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has also received historic designations at the state, county, and city levels.
  Built from 1912 to 1913, the Neoclassical courthouse was designed by the noted Los Angeles architect Albert C. Martin Sr. in a Beaux Arts style. The building's facade includes white glazed terra cotta panels and decorations, including 24 whimsical faces of Franciscan friars, fluted Doric columns, a copper-sheathed dome and cupola, and Roman-arched windows. The second-floor city council chambers include carved mahogany woodwork, stained glass skylights, and arched windows overlooking the city and ocean.
  The courthouse was expanded in the early 1930s with the construction of an annex off the building's west wing. In 1968, the building was declared structurally unsound and county workers relocated.
context_section_description: The building architecture has been described as Neoclassical Revival, Beaux Arts Classicisim, Roman Doric, and French Renaissance. The architect Albert C. Martin referred to it as "resembling Roman Doric". When the plans were unveiled in 1911, the Los Angeles Times reported that the "Roman Doric order" design would be "one of the most imposing public structures in California, and a credit to the seat of government of the prosperous lima bean section."
  Notable design features of the facade include white glazed terra cotta panels and decorations, including 24 whimsical faces of Franciscan friars, fluted Doric columns, a copper-sheathed dome and cupola, Roman-arched windows, and ornate brass gates and double doors. The interior design features include extensive use of Italian marble, bronze balustrades, and a large, second-floor courtroom (now city council chambers) with carved mahogany woodwork, three domes with leaded, stained glass skylights, and arched windows overlooking the city and ocean.
  The building has been praised as one of Southern California's most beautiful government buildings. In 1926, the Ventura Star wrote: "She stands majestically upon the hill, this courthouse of ours, with her national colors fluttering in the harbor breezes, for all the world like a beautiful woman in a Paris gown." In 1991, the Los Angeles Times said of the landmark structure: "Probably no local structure is more visually and symbolically dramatic, or as steeped in local legend.  Perched like a lordly, lavish manor at the juncture of California and Poli streets, it overlooks the old town and the blue Pacific beyond – a constant reminder of the past."
  The courthouse has been designated as a historic building at the federal, state, county, and city levels. In December 1970, it was designated as Ventura County Historic Landmark No. 12. Five months later, in May 1971, it was designated as California Historical Landmark No. 847. Three months after that, in August 1971, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first building in the city (and the second in the county) to be so recognized. When the City of Ventura adopted its own historic landmark program in February 1974, the courthouse was one of the first buildings to be selected, receiving the designation as Ventura Historic Landmark No. 4.
caption: Terra cotta facade with friars' heads
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-HX80", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DSC-HX80 v1.00", "Image DateTime": "2017:04:13 14:09:19", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "286", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail ImageDescription": "", "Thumbnail Make": "SONY", "Thumbnail Model": "DSC-HX80", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail Software": "DSC-HX80 v1.00", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2017:04:13 14:09:19", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "34506", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9267", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1250", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:04:13 14:09:19", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:04:13 14:09:19", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "1619/160", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "463/128", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "41/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4896", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3672", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "34214", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[41/10, 123, 7/2, 32/5]"}