The First City Halls of San Jose

"A 1798 adobe structure was the first documented govern- ment building in the pueblo of San Jose, apart from the ear- lier 1783 adobe Juzgado (meaning court of law in Spanish) at an unknown location near the Guadalupe River. The 1798 Juzgado, with a tile-roof, served as an assembly house, courthouse and jail and was located at the northwest corner of South Market and Post Streets. When the Juzgado was sold to become a hotel in 1850, temporary quarters for City Hall included a rented adobe on Lightson St and then the old State House in the Plaza.

"Plans for a new City Hall developed by enlarging and re- modeling another adobe at 35 North Market Street. Levi Goodrich designed this first permanent City Hall with a Gothic-style façade. It served as City Hall from 1855 until about 1870, when the building was re-built and re-designed with a Greek influence." -- http://www.preservation.org/newsletters/summer2011.pdf