Throughout the mid to late 1800s in the United States there was a rise in popularity of the “Italian Renaissance” architectural style, especially for public buildings like city halls and courthouses.  A man by the name of Albert A. Bennett got a lot of work in California building and designing this style of structure after the gold rush. So much work in fact that he was named “State Architect” under Governor Haight in the 1870s.  With that he built courthouses and government buildings all over the state but due to age and decay many have been destroyed but in my hometown of Merced California there happens to be the last standing example of his famous courthouse design.

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