Old Orange County Courthouse

The Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana is a Romanesque Revival landmark completed in nineteen oh one, when Orange County was barely a dozen years old and flush with the pride of new independence from Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles architect Charles Strange designed a building meant to project permanence: red sandstone walls, a clock tower rising over a hundred feet, and a copper dome that turned green within a generation. It served as the seat of county government for over sixty years, witnessing the transformation of Orange County from a region of citrus groves into a suburban powerhouse.

When the courts moved to a new courthouse in nineteen sixty-nine, the old building was slated for demolition. A citizen campaign reversed that decision, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in nineteen seventy-seven. Today it operates as a California historical landmark and occasional event venue.