Friends have encouraged me to share photographs of the classic temples of justice. I feature each month photographs of one classic American courthouse including a brief history of the structure. This month’s Mono California County, California courthouse in Bridgeport features beautiful Italianate architecture. The town of 553 along the Eastern Sierras lights the 1880 courthouse on Main Street at night.

 

CLASSIC AMERICAN COURTHOUSE NO. 3 Mono County, 278 Main St. Bridgeport, CA 93517

Constructed and Opened: 1880. Architect: J. R. Roberts 74 ft. x 80 ft. NRHP March 1, 1974

 

One of the oldest continuously operating courthouses in California Built for a total cost of $31,000.

An annex furnishing an elevator as well as a ramp outside on the rear of the 1880 building was built to make the courthouse compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

 

The principal Mono County courthouse is in Mammoth, an hour away. The 2 ½ story courthouse in Bridgeport is open only on Tuesdays. The original second-floor courtroom has 20-foot-high ceilings. Notice how the “open” witness chair is within two feet of both the judge’s bench and a corner of the jury box. Inmates, who are housed in a relatively modern jail behind the courthouse, walk cross Bryant Street handcuffed in the custody of sheriffs before their court call.

 

In case you miss a monthly courthouse feature, they are catalogued in numerical order under “Classic Courthouses” on my author website www.privilegedbook.com. If you have classic pre-1950 courthouses in your state, please email me their location and if possible, high-resolution photograph to robertwtarun@gmail.com; I will consider featuring them in a monthly post and better yet, I may come see them. I will be visiting friends and classic courthouses in New York City and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas in the coming month.
 
 Finally, my novel Privileged – A Legal Thriller has received 35 straight 5 Star Amazon reviews and great comments on Amazon books. Many have been posted by nationally recognized trial lawyers. Check out the reviews. Recently, the novel became available as an audiobook on www.Audible.com.