Santa Cruz City Hall

There have been three Santa Cruz City Halls.

• 1876 - first City Hall on Front Street. See History Pages: 30 – How the Town Became a City
• 1920 - the city leased the former Hihn mansion for the second City Hall.
• 1920-1923 - the old city hall was sold to the county, and became an annex to the courthouse
• 1923 - the city bought second City Hall property.
• 1937 - the north wing of today's City Hall opened for business. In the same year, the old city hall (aka courthouse annex) was torn down to make way for a new county jail.
• 1967 - a two-story annex was built, to the west (toward Chestnut St.)
• 1989 - Santa Cruz PD moved out of the earthquake-damaged north wing of City Hall.
• 1999 - Santa Cruz PD moves into new complex in November

A wall in Room 10 of the north wing now features a large print of Panorama 3: Bird's Eye View of Santa Cruz, 1877. A wall in Room 8 of the north wing has a large print of Panorama 4: Steinegger Bird's Eye View of Santa Cruz, 1888-89.

• The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture, 4th edition (2023), chapter 3, item (1), page 54.