A Courthouse Cupola View of Merced-

On Top of the Iconic Courthouse Museum

On the left - The view looking down N Street from on top of the Courthouse Museum. Right: The exterior of the iconic Merced building. Photos: Steve Newvine

Visually, this is one of the most interesting stories I have had the opportunity to write over the past several years.

Come along with me for an inside view looking outside.

Thanks to County Historian Sarah Lim who secured permission from the folks responsible for making the arrangements, I got an insider look from the top of the iconic Merced County Courthouse Museum building.

“The cupola is a restricted area and is full of cobwebs and dead bees,” she warned when I made the request.

When the day finally arrived, she told me she would unlock the door and let me go up alone.

Once I started up the narrow stairway, I understood why. I wiped cobwebs off my clothes, and started taking pictures.

Access to the upper, non-public floors of the Courthouse museum begin with this locked staircase off the third floor. That is followed by a winding set of stairs that eventually lead to the top. Photos: Steve Newvine

As I made my way to the first level of the cupola, I took in the view from all four sides. From here looking down N Street, I could see downtown Merced.

Going clockwise, I saw the roof of the County Library, the top of the Sheriff’s Department, and completed the circle with a view of Merced Police Headquarters leading to the traffic signal on M Street.

Three sides of the cupola overlook statues of the Roman Goddess Justica.

According to information provided to me from County Historian Lim, the statues were to represent justice.

But as the architect did not believe justice is blind, he chose not to depict the Goddess as blind.

The view looking toward the Merced County Library, and a look at the top of the Merced County Sheriff’s Department building from the cupola of the Courthouse Museum. In the second photograph, the Superior Court building is visible to the right. Photo: Steve Newvine

According to the architectural history, the statues were made out of redwood, are hand-carved, and are approximately twice life-size.

The statue at the very top of the cupola is Minerva, the Roman Goddess of Wisdom.

There were deliberate architectural and stylistic choices, along with a good deal of symbolism behind the look of the Courthouse building.
From the relatively plain look on the ground level, to the more ornate styles heading up to the higher floors, the architect designed the building to communicate a sense of enlightenment as the visitor moved up through the structure.

From the upper level of the structure, lots of daylight fills the cupola. Photo: Steve Newvine

While the view was great, the highest level was worth risking my fear of heights. Up one final spiral set of stairs and I was now standing in the top level of the cupola.

Only the Goddess Minerva stood higher: outside on the dome. The height from the ground to the very top of the dome is just under one-hundred, six feet.

My view of N Street leading to downtown Merced took on a richer meaning as the street parking alongside the Courthouse Park was now visible.

I could see my parked car from this vantage point.

Downtown Merced on a not-so clear day. This is the view from the cupola on top of the Merced County Courthouse Museum looking down N Street toward downtown. The statue is of the Roman Goddess Justica, but without the blindfold; a creative choice by the building architect who, according to the architectural history of the building, did not believe justice is blind. Photo: Steve Newvine

On a clear day, we’re told you can see the entire County.

My visit took place in late August in the midst of the heatwave and in skies filled with pollutants from the California wildfires in the region.

This indoor adventure was all worth the trouble: getting special permission, enduring the cobwebs, and navigating dead bees as well as live spiders.

The photographs document our town as it looks in this particular point in time.

While our community will continue to evolve and change in the coming decades, it will likely look pretty much the same from five stories up in the Merced County Courthouse Museum building.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His book California Back Roads is available in soft and hardcover versions at Lulu.com

Steve is grateful to Merced County Historian Sarah Lim for securing special permission to allow him to go into the cupola which is not open to the general public.

Sarah also provided the architectural history of the building that was helpful in telling this story.