Boulder County Courthouse

A five-story sandstone courthouse from 1933, with a clock tower, strong vertical lines and little ornament. It reads as Depression-era civic architecture; the only lettering over the door says COURT HOUSE. The entrance faces south across a fountain plaza and lawn to the car-free Pearl Street Mall.

Boulder County owns the building and lawn and publishes no film permit for them. Ask its Office of Special Events (se@bouldercounty.gov), which issues the Public Assembly on County Property permit for the lawn: apply 10 days ahead; marketing or advertising for for-profit companies is not permitted. County policy reserves the building, inside and out, for county business.

Filming from the Pearl Street Mall needs the City of Boulder film permit: apply at least 14 days ahead. Since summer 2026 the City charges medium-sized productions $250 a day and large ones $500; small productions and still photography are free.

Boulder architect Glen H. Huntington designed it in WPA Moderne, a restrained Art Deco style. It became a National Historic Landmark in 2024: County Clerk Clela Rorex issued six marriage licenses to same-sex couples here in 1975. The courts moved out; county offices remain.