History
Ventura County was formed on March 22, 1872. [3] The original Ventura County Courthouse was completed in 1875 [4] : 55, 58 by William Dewey Hobson and T. B. Steepleton from a design by Hobson. Additions were made in 1879 and 1884, [5] and the building was remodeled in 1900. [6] The first courthouse was demolished around 1920; [7] the site is now occupied by the May Henning School on Santa Clara Street. [4] : 58
A bond measure was passed, authorizing US$150,000(equivalent to $5,060,000 in 2024) for a new courthouse in 1911. [8] The new Ventura County Courthouse was designed by architect Albert C. Martin Sr. and completed in 1912. [9] The new building was officially dedicated on July 7, 1913. [10] [11] : 29 A new jail wing was added in 1931–32. [12] [13] After the 1912 building was declared unsafe in November 1968, [14] the City of Ventura purchased the 1912 building and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. [9] After the city completed an extensive renovation, [15] partially defrayed by grants from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Economic Development Administration, [16] it has served as the Ventura City Hall since 1974. [17]
The County of Ventura purchased land in eastern Ventura for a new Government Center. [16] The current main courtrooms and administrative offices of the Ventura County Superior Court are at the Ventura Hall of Justice, which was completed in 1980 as part of Phase 2 of the Ventura County Government Center. The design is credited to the architectural firms led by John Carl Warnecke and Dan Dworsky. [18] [19]
The East County Courthouse in Simi Valley opened in March 1991. [20] Although the East County Courthouse was intended to provide services for communities east of the Conejo Grade, it was nearly closed in 1993 over a budget dispute and only staffed by court commissioners, whose scope was limited to traffic, small claims, and family cases until 1995. [21]
