74 Iconic Buildings to Explore in California

This is a former hotel/resort in Norco, California, built in the 1920s and largely intact after over 70 years as a naval base and prison. . It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Los Angeles City Hall is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. The building is open to the public, so you can see this piece of history up close. Inside, you'll find alluring aesthetics as impressive as the outside, with hanging chandeliers and high ceilings. Most of the time visitors spend about an hour here.

This is a contemporary arts space focused on the Chicano and Latino experience and history, located in the SoFA district at 510 South First Street in San Jose, California. The museum was founded in 1989, in order to encourage civic dialog and social equity. The current programming includes visual art, performing and literary arts, youth arts education, and a community art program. The space has two performing arts spaces, a gallery and the MACLA Castellano Playhouse.

This is the Birthplace of Orange County. It was founded more than two hundred years ago as the 7th of 21 missions statewide and features a chapel still standing where Saint Serra once celebrated Mass. Today, it is a monument to California’s multi-cultural history, embracing its Native American, Spanish, Mexican and European heritage. The mission was damaged over the years by a number of natural disasters, but restoration and renovation efforts date from around 1910.

Built in 1909, the three room, granite shelter was constructed not only to give hikers a safe haven from the storms, but also to act as housing for scientists camped out on the summit to study altitude, a very intriguing subject at a time when high altitude flight was just on the horizon. It is the highest permanent building in the Contiguous United States.

OUE Skyspace is located in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. it brings to life unparalleled, 360-degree views on California's tallest open-air observation deck, nearly 1,000 feet above Downtown Los Angeles. Experience the Skyslide, a 45-foot, fully enclosed, 1-1/4" thick all glass adventure landing on the exterior of the iconic US Bank Tower. As the tallest building on the west coast, Skyspace LA's 70th floor can be transformed to host an array of custom events.

Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, is a former military installation in Santa Barbara, California, United States. The presidio was built by Spain in 1782, with the mission of defending the Second Military District in California. The park contains an original adobe structure called El Cuartel, which is the second oldest surviving building in California; only the chapel at Mission San Juan Capistrano, known as "Father Junípero Serra's Church", is older.

This was a reform school located in Ione, California, in Amador County. Its mission is to preserve, rehabilitate and utilize the historic Preston Castle site as well as preserving the history of the school, its staff and boys. The Romanesque Revival style of architecture was to make the building look like a school rather than a prison. Today, theCastle is open to the public for tours and events.

Pulgas Water Temple is a beautiful monument complete with a reflection pool lined with cypress trees and meadows of grass. it was designed in the Beaux Arts style by William Merchant, a San Francisco architect trained by Bernard Maybeck. The water temple was originally built in 1934 (and revamped in 1938) as part of a massive project to bring water to San Francisco by damming up the Hetch Hetchy valley, 160 miles away in the Sierras.

Heritage House is an historic house museum in the Queen Anne Victorian style in Riverside, California. It is part of the Museum of Riverside and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 28, 1973.The two-story, 4,000 square foot home resides on Magnolia Avenue, which was a prominent thoroughfare at the time of the house's construction. It is restored to reflect the design and lifestyle of wealthy turn-of-the-century Riverside.

This is the repository of presidential records from the administration of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, and the burial place of the president and first lady, Nancy Reagan. It is the largest of the 13 federally operated presidential libraries, containing millions of documents, photographs, films and tapes. There is a permanent exhibit covering Ronald Reagan's life, as well as memorabilia such as Air Force One, the aircraft personally used by the president.

This is one of the Venturas majestic historic building built in 1912-13, used as a courthouse until 1972. It was the first building in the City of Ventura to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has also received historic designations at the state, county and city levels. It is available for rental for your next gathering.Its public indoor and outdoor spaces—Atrium, Patio, Foyer and Community Meeting Room have beautiful floors, ceilings and walls of marble.

The majestic seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. It is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the 1880s to 1917. The structure's dome is taller than that of the United States Capitol by 42 feet.

Sather Tower is a bell tower with clocks on its four faces on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It is a recognizable symbol of the university. Sather Tower also houses many of the Department of Integrative Biology's fossils

Scotty's Castle is a two-story Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style villa located in the Grapevine Mountains of northern Death Valley in Death Valley National Park, California, US.The Johnsons' original furnishings and clothing can still be seen today. The National Park Service gives guided tours of Scotty's Castle for a fee.An underground mystery tour is also available for those wishing to see the inner workings of the building.

Seaport Village is a waterfront shopping and dining complex adjacent to San Diego Bay in downtown San Diego. It houses more than 70 shops, galleries, and eateries on 90,000 square feet of waterfront property. The Village contains several freestanding buildings in an assortment of architectural styles, from Victorian to traditional Mexican.

The Skirball is a dynamic Jewish cultural center with exhibitions and programs that foster human connections and promote social justice.The center, named after philanthropist-couple Jack H. Skirball and Audrey Skirball-Kenis, features a museum with regularly changing exhibitions, film events, music and theater performances, comedy, family, literary and cultural programs. The Skirball presents a range of music, theater, poetry, literary, film and other performing arts.

Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough is a walk-through attraction located inside Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.It is based on the late-19th century Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany. It appeared in the Walt Disney Pictures title card from 1985 to 2006 before being merged with Cinderella Castle, both iconic symbols of The Walt Disney Company. The version at Disneyland is the only Disney castle whose construction was overseen by Walt Disney.

South Coast Plaza is a global shopping destination with more than 250 extraordinary boutiques, critically acclaimed restaurants a nd so more. Its 275 retailers represent the highest concentration of design fashion retail in the U.S., with the second highest sales-volume in California. The South Coast Plaza is the largest shopping mall in California and the 4th largest in the United States.

Originally known as the Grand Union Hotel, was used as a resting area for people who traveled from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Besides a hotel and stagecoach stop, it has also been used as a post office, church, restaurant and military school. The museum includes a rebuilt Timber School, a carriage house and blacksmith shop, nature trails, and the "Tri-Village", a small group of three houses: the pioneer house, the adobe, and the Chumash "ap".