The Old Orange County Courthouse, at one point also known as the Santa Ana County Courthouse, is a
Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...
building that was opened in September 1901 and is located in
Santa Ana's Historic Downtown District on Civic Center and Broadway streets. The Old Orange County Courthouse is officially recognized as
California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
No. 837 and is also on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
History
The city of Santa Ana was established in 1869 by William Spurgeon on of land purchased from the old Spanish land grant,
Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was a Spanish land concession in present-day Orange County, California, given by Spanish Alta California Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga in 1810 to Jose Antonio Yorba and his nephew Pablo Peralta. The grant exte ...
.
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...
, was formed in 1889 by William Spurgeon and James McFadden and Santa Ana was chosen as the county seat of government because of its larger growth as a town over surrounding towns, especially
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
.
Museum
The courthouse now stands as a museum and has been used as a favorite location for different movies and television shows. It features as the exterior of Briarcliff Manor in ''
American Horror Story: Asylum''. In 1949 the courthouse exterior and interior were used for location filming for ''
The File on Thelma Jordan''.
Gallery
Image:Old_OC_Courthouse_02.jpg, Old Orange County Courthouse - Front View
Image:Old_OC_Courthouse_01.jpg, Old Orange County Courthouse - Back View
See also
*
Downtown Santa Ana Historic Districts
Downtown Santa Ana (DTSA), also called Downtown Orange County, is the historic city center of Santa Ana and the county seat of Orange County, California. It is the institutional center for the city of Santa Ana as well as Orange County, a ret ...
*
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the 13th-m ...
*
References
Further reading
*
External links
Orange County Parks: Old Orange County CourthouseSanta Ana Historical Preservation Society
{{National Register of Historic Places
Buildings and structures in Santa Ana, California
History of Santa Ana, California
Museums in Orange County, California
History museums in California
History of Orange County, California
California Historical Landmarks
Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in California
National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, California
Government buildings completed in 1901
Romanesque Revival architecture in California