Los Angeles County is named for the Spanish word “the angels” from the name El Pueeblo de Nuestra Sehora de los Angeles del Rio de Porciuncula ( The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the Porziuncola River ).
Created: February 18, 1850
County Seat:
Los Angeles 1850 – present
County Courthouse – Los Angeles
Location: 111 North Hill Street / West 1st Street
Built: 1956 – 1958
Style: Art Deco
Architect: Stanton, Williams, Field & Frey
Contractor: Unknown
Description: The building faces southeast and is is a six story buff colored concrete structure. The building forms an “H” shape with north and south one story wings on the northwest side and southeast side. The northwest and southeast fronts have large recessed entrances on the first story with glass panels. There are no windows along the northwest and southeast sides. The lower part of the building is red-brown colored stone. The building is named as the Stanley Mosk Courthouse and is part of the Civic Center complex. Along the north side is the Grand Park and County Administration Building.
Note: The previous courthouse was designed by Curlett, Eisen & Cuthbertson and constructed in 1891.
County Criminal Courthouse - Los Angeles
Location: 210 West Temple Street / North Spring Street
Built: 1970 – 1972
Style: Modern
Architect: Adrian Wilson Associates and Maurice H Fleishman
Contractor: Gust K Newberg Company
Description: The building faces north and is a twenty-one story concrete and glass structure. The first two stories has vertical pillars with recessed glass walls. The windows are horizontal with concrete dividers between the floors. The roof line is flat. The building is names as the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
County Hall of Justice – Los Angeles
Location: 211 West Temple Street / North Spring Street
Built: 1923 – 1925
Style: Beaux Arts
Architect: Allies Architects, Nadel Architects Inc. and Nakada & Associates
Contractor: Unknown
Description: The building faces southeast and is a fourteen story limestone and concrete structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds to the north of the Los Angeles City Hall. The southeast front has three large central arched entrances. The upper stories has a columned façade with recessed windows. The roof line is flat. The building was renovated in 2011 to 2015 after damage due to the 1994 earthquake. The architect was A C Martin Partners and the contractor was Clark Construction Group of Bethesda, Maryland.
Note: The Allied Architects were Octavius Morgan, Reginald Johnson, Edwin Bergstrom, David C. Allison, Myron Hunt, Elmer Grey, Sumner Hunt, and Sumner Spaulding. The cost of the 2011 renovation was $231,000,000.
County Hall of Records – Los Angeles
Location: 320 West Temple Street / South Hill Street
Built: 1960 – 1962
Style: Modern
Architect: Richard J Neutra & Robert E Alexander, Douglas Honnold & John Rex and James R Friend-Hermes C Light
Contractor: Twaits-Wittenberg Company and Morrison-Knudsen
Description: The building faces north and is a seven story concrete and glass structure. The north and front sides have horizontal windows with concrete dividers between the floors and vertical dividers. The east and west walls have no windows. The north side has a projection one story entrance section. The projecting central tower rises above the roof line and has no windows.
Courthouses:
N – Kern County
S – Orange County
W – Pacific Ocean and Ventura County
Courthouse
Criminal Courthouse
Hall of Records
Photos taken 2013