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Overview

The Bakersfield architect Charles C. McDougall (1857-1930) designed the Kern County Courthouse #2 in Bakersfield, CA. (See Michael R. Corbett, "Continuity and Change in California Courthouse Design 1850-2000," in Ray McDevitt, ed., Courthouses of California: An Illustrated History, [San Francisco: California Hisorical Society, 2001], p. 25.)

Building History

This courthouse took the place of Kern County's first one in Bakersfield, CA, built in 1876. Rapid development in the county necessitated the construction of a larger court building; the Judicial Council of California web site indicated that the 1896 building was actually an enlargement of the first: "The town's first courthouse was constructed in 1876 but soon proved inadequate for the growing county, and in 1896 it was reconstructed with additions that doubled the size of the original building. When a more modern courthouse was built across the street in 1912, the county sold the old courthouse to the City of Bakersfield for use as its city hall. Both the old and new courthouses were damaged in a 1952 earthquake and demolished." (See "Kern County Courthouse,"Accessed 04/02/2011.)

Demolished; this courthouse (later transformed into the Bakersfield City Hall) was torn down due to damage sustained in the Tehachapi Earthquake of 1952.

PCAD id: 16309