Between the Music Academy and the Fiesta Days, there’s a lot of extra activity in Santa Barbara in August.  But the architectural sights are available any time of year.  Of the downtown buildings, the most important is the Courthouse, built in 1929.

Santa Barbara Courthouse

The Courthouse’s verdant backyard is sometimes used for free public concerts or for weddings.

The back yard of Santa Barbara Courthouse

I was struck by the resemblance to Turkish tiles in some of the design in the Courthouse interior. As it turns out, I wasn’t far off; the tiles came from Tunisia.

Tunisian Tiles in the the Courthouse

I also liked this series of arches:

Inside the Courthouse

And this detail on the ceiling:

The ceilings were painted by Italian Renaissance revival artist  John Smeraldi, who is also responsible for the painting in the Blue Room of the White House.

The other reason to visit the Courthouse is the incredible view from the roof.

The Courthouse courtyard viewed from the roof

To the North, the Santa Inez Mountains; to the South, the coastline.

Courthouse rooftop view of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara

Around the corner is the Art Museum, which has a good general collection of paintings as well as interesting special exhibits. The museum also has an excellent “cafe”. I put it in quotes because it’s really a full restaurant with a tremendously varied menu, and “cafe” makes it sound like it just serves sandwiches. Next to the museum is the Library, with this unusual entrance:

Santa Barbara Library

The most famous building in Santa Barbara lies just outside of town, toward the mountains. This is the Mission, where the Spanish attempted to Christianize the Chumash Indians.

The Santa Barbara Mission

Santa Barbara Mission Bell towers

Side view of Santa Barbara Mission, with statue of Junipero Serra

Much of Santa Barbara is built in Spanish Colonial style, but nowhere does this architecture look as magnificent as it does in this setting.