The Hall of Records

Author-Historian Virginia Comer offers a unique photo-journal with connective text of the restoration of a National Historic Landmark, the Santa Barbara County Hall of Records, built after the City's devastating earthquake of 1925. A ten-foot elevated pedestrian bridge connects the Hall of Records to the iconic County Court- house , considered the Nation's most beautiful municipal building. William Mooser III of the San Francisco architectural dynasty of that name, designed the Courthouse and Hall of Records, with the help of a quick sketch by architect J. Wilmer Hershey. Completed just four years after the disturbing quake, Santa Barbara's formation of the Country's first Architectural Review Board had the effect of creating and maintaining the City's distinctive Spanish-Colonial Revival styling. A few decades later and almost without notice, the interior of the Hall of Records was being gradually overlaid with changes in lighting from historic lanterns to lowered fluorescent lights; changes in the oak desks and other furniture; finally shuttering an aesthetic skylight. In time the essence of Mooser's Andalusian ambiance disappeared in a clutter of the public space. Succeeding chapters in the book unfold events from the fateful summer day in 1925 to spring of 2003 when Robert Ooley, County Architect met with Joseph Holland, the County Assessor to make a decision about how to correct some of the needs of the Hall of Records. Ooley decided the future of the building might be in its past and Holland agreed to a complete restoration. Chapter IV, Renaissance Craftsmanship in the 21st Century, showcases the ethereal artistry of Architect Britt Jewett and the skill of the artisans and craftspersons who were able to re-create the same craftsmanship of the early1920s from Jewett's analytic drawings The final chapter, A Legacy Restored, reveals the visual drama of the interior's renewal of Andalusian ambiance. It celebrates the work of everyone who contributed to the project, especially the creativity of craftspersons, artisans and Architect of Historic Restoration, Britt Jewett. It's a salute to the return of the beauty of the design of original architect, William Mooser III.