The Stanley Mosk Courthouse is a courthouse in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

home to the

Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The L ...

. It is located at 110 N. Grand Avenue and 111 N. Hill Street between

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

and

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

streets, lining

Grand Park Grand Park is a park located in the civic center of Los Angeles, California. First developed in 1966 as the 'Civic Center Mall' with plazas, fountains and a Court of Flags, it is now a part of the larger redevelopment known as the Grand Avenue ...

in the

Civic Center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, th ...

in Downtown Los Angeles. The building was constructed in 1958 and has a floor area of in its west wing and in the east wing. It has 100 courtrooms, 840 daily workers and 7000 daily visitors. The courthouse is often seen in the TV series ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...

'', when the title character parks his car on Hill Street to go inside the building. The architects were

Stanton, Stockwell, Williams and Wilson Stanton & Stockwell was a partnership of Jesse Earl Stanton and William Francis Stockwell, two architects active in Southern California during the mid-20th century. Works attributed to them include: *Los Angeles Mall, bounded by Main, Los Angeles, a ...

, in Late Moderne style, which incorporates elements of both the

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial desig ...

and

International style International style may refer to: * International Style (architecture), the early 20th century modern movement in architecture *International style (art), the International Gothic style in medieval art *International Style (dancing), a term used in ...

. The team of architects designed the courthouse simultaneously with the

Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration (abbreviated HOA), formerly the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration, completed 1960, is the seat of the government of the County of Los Angeles, California, and houses the Los Angeles County Board of Sup ...

(1960), both buildings conceived as part of the monumental 1947 Civic Center Master Plan. That plan also called for the extension of the

Los Angeles Civic Center The Civic Center neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, is the administrative core of the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, and a complex of city, county, state, and federal government offices, buildings, and courthouses. It is locat ...

westward to incorporate the north end of the Bunker Hill area, which had been demolished, and created the east–west axis of civic buildings along what is today

. The courthouse was opened by Chief Justice

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitutio ...

in October 31, 1958. The courthouse was later named in honor of

Stanley Mosk Morey Stanley Mosk (September 4, 1912 – June 19, 2001) was an American jurist, politician, and attorney. He served as Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court for 37 years (1964–2001), the longest tenure in that court's history. ...

, the longest serving justice on the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

and former

Attorney General of California The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section ...

, in 2002. Since 2019, the courthouse has gained prominence as the site of the conservatorship dispute of

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

, and the corresponding #FreeBritney rallies which have taken place there. Stanley Mosk Courthouse-1.jpg, Closeup of Grand Avenue façade with relief statues Stanley Mosk Courthouse-2.jpg, Hill Street façade with relief statues

References

{{reflist Courthouses in California Civic Center, Los Angeles Late Moderne architecture Stanton & Stockwell buildings Government buildings completed in 1958