Anonymous
By Barbara Peters, Publicity Chair for the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Docent Council
The Santa Barbara County Courthouse is open to the public weekdays from 8:00am until 5:00pm. Beginning July 2nd, the Courthouse will be open weekends and every holiday except Christmas from 10:00am until 5:00pm. Visitors are not admitted after 4:45pm. Free docent-guided tours are offered each weekday at 10:30am and 2:00pm and on weekends and holidays at 2:00pm. Tours begin in the Mural Room on the second floor where a docent will welcome you for a one-hour tour with no reservations required.
Special tours and guided visits to the Bisno Schall Clock Gallery are available to groups by reservation. For special tours email tours@sbcourthouse.org and for Clock Gallery tours email clock@sbcourthouse.org.
Self-guided & virtual tours are always available on the Docent Council website, https://sbcourthouse.org. Visitors can also use QR code signs located at the security entrances, at the information booth in the lobby, at the Mural Room entrance, and street side at Anacapa Street to link to interior and exterior self-guided tours along with stories of Courthouse history and the people behind it. The Docent Council website also provides links to related Santa Barbara County Courthouse websites that offer more information about entry and rental facilities.
Santa Barbara’s iconic Spanish Colonial Revival Courthouse has been called, “The most beautiful government building in America.”
