Downtown Santa Ana Historic Districts (North, Government/Institutional and South, Retail)

Downtown Santa Ana's historic core holds 99 buildings that once served as the commercial center of the city and the wider region. The district is split into a northern government and institutional section and a southern retail section, divided by a break in integrity. Most buildings are two-story business blocks with shops below and offices or housing above, mixed with a few taller structures, the largest of six stories. Construction ranges from the late 1870s to the rebuilding that followed the 1933 earthquake. Notable landmarks include the 1901 Old Orange County Courthouse, a Richardsonian Romanesque building, the 1888 Church of the Messiah and the 1935 Old City Hall. Progressive Era buildings used glazed multicolored brick and terra cotta, while the 1920s brought Spanish Colonial Revival fronts in earth-tone brick or white stucco. Many fronts on Fourth Street were rebuilt in Moderne styles after the earthquake. Later alterations were often superficial and removable, so the district retains the character of a complete small-city downtown.