Though not quite as ancient as architectural monuments from the Old World, the Santa Barbara County Courthouse is just as visually striking to passersby as the world’s most famous chapels and castles. But the nearly 90-year-old building’s real treasures require a slightly deeper look, for inside are the eclectically diverse yet classically traditional touches that make this functioning hall of justice a museum unto itself.
From the 30 copper plates on the Hall of Records door and plants from more than two dozen countries decorating the grounds to the floor mosaic of St. Barbara and the gallery-esque offerings of the Daniel Sayre Groesbeck’s Mural Room and Theodore Van Cina hallway paintings, there’s a little something to interest all types of people — art buffs to historians, palm-tree lovers to design freaks.
There’s no better way to learn all of this than by taking one of the daily tours offered by docents, which more than 6,500 people enjoyed last year out of the 125,000 people from 60 different countries that visited the courthouse. The tours happen every day at 2 p.m., as well as Monday-Friday at 10:30 a.m., and that doesn’t count the special tours of school groups and busloads of tourists.