{"nrhp_refnum":"03000424","name":"Fullerton City Hall","other_names":["Fullerton Police Department","Fullerton Jail","Wayne H. Bornhoft Facility"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"237 W. Commonwealth Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fullerton","county":"Orange County","state":"CA","lat":33.87261657100004,"lon":-117.93024667699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Art"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fullerton City Hall is a one-and-one-half-story poured concrete Spanish Colonial Revival building at 237 West Commonwealth Avenue in Fullerton, Orange County, California, built 1939-1942 as a Works Projects Administration project.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an exceptionally fine example of Spanish Colonial Revival civic architecture with distinctive art deco tilework and wrought iron. It also houses a three-panel WPA mural, 'The History of Southern California,' by artist Helen Lundeberg. It was the city's first building to hold all municipal offices and departments.","narrative":"Fullerton City Hall, at 237 West Commonwealth Avenue, was built between 1939 and 1942 as one of several Works Projects Administration projects in the city. The one-and-one-half-story poured concrete building has an L-shaped plan, a three-story clock tower at its central corner, and a sunken courtyard. Its Spanish Colonial Revival design is paired with art deco ceramic and terra cotta tile by Gladding, McBean and Company and with decorative wrought iron. Inside, the former council chamber, now called the Mural Room, holds a three-panel mural by Helen Lundeberg depicting Southern California history from 1542 to the 1930s. When it opened in 1942, it housed all of the city's offices for the first time. After a new city hall opened across the street in 1963, the police department and jail took over the building. A 1972-73 annex and a later expansion lie at the rear, but the original exterior remains largely as it looked in 1942. The city designated it a local landmark in 1980.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Spanish Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used by the Fullerton Police Department and jail since 1963; the west wing Mural Room is available for community meetings. Described as structurally sound and in good condition, with a police annex expansion under construction.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.779683-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/03000424.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000424/d010968d4f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000424/d010968d4f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"User:Geographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fullerton_police_headquarter.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Geographer</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fullerton_police_headquarter.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860220","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullerton_City_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60748701"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/orange-county/fullerton-city-hall-03000424/"}