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Photograph of Seal Beach City Hall
Photograph by Traveler100, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Seal Beach City Hall

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1896.

From the record

One of 136 National Register listings published here for Orange County · listed in 1983 · category: Building.

Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 201 8th St., Seal Beach, 90740
  • When was it listed? August 1983
  • Category. building
  • Census division. North Coast
  • Architect. William Horace Austin Jr.
  • National Register reference number. 83001221 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1896 to 1901

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 5 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Seal Beach City Hall, surveyed 1901
Topographic sheet covering Seal Beach City Hall, surveyed 1896

Fires near this property

87 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 87 fires within 5 miles of Seal Beach City Hall between 2000 and 2020, burning about 45 acres in total. None started naturally. 10 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined51
Smoking12
Arson/incendiarism10
Equipment and vehicle use7
Debris and open burning4
Misuse of fire by a minor3

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
18 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
13 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
13 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 August 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
4 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 August 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
25 August 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this property

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Seal Beach City Hall: 4 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Long Beach Brick CoClayPast ProducerSedimentary
Long Beach Brick Co.ClayPast Producer
R LoynesClayPast ProducerSedimentary
R. LoynesClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in Orange County

Storms near this property

19 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Seal Beach, the town this property stands in, in 19 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 flash flood, 4 flood, 3 rip current, 2 high surf. The reports record 2 deaths. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2001Rip CurrentSeal Beach1 killedno account filed
April 2000Rip CurrentSeal Beach1 killedno account filed
January 2010Tornado (EF1)Seal Beach$500,000A tornado formed off the coast of Sunset Beach in Orange County and moved Northeast. The tornado crossed Pacific Coast Highway just south of Anderson Street at 1257 PST and continued to move Northeast. A parked Ford Explorer was flipped on its side, and two 35 foot catamarans in the Huntington Harbour were lifted out of the water. One was lifted 50 feet in the air before landing on another vessel and a dock piling. The second was flipped over and landed 30 feet from its original position. There were multiple reports of roof damage, and a window in a residential building was blown in. A wind gust of 92 MPH was measured by a mesonet at the Huntington Beach Pier.
January 2001Storm Surge/TideSeal Beach$240,000no account filed
February 2004Flash FloodSeal Beach$30,000no account filed
October 1999High SurfSeal Beach$15,000Tidal overflow occured due to the combination of heavy surf and high tides.
January 2005Flash FloodSeal Beach$10,000no account filed
February 2025Heavy RainSeal Beach-Trained spotter reported an inch since yesterday morning, mostly beneficial rates but street puddling and Pacific Coast Highway closed going south into Huntington Beach. Total reported was 1.10 inches of rainfall.
February 2024Flash FloodSeal Beach-Pacific Coast Highway had both lanes flooded out. Some impact to businesses with significant flooding reported. 1.80 to 2.65 inches in Seal Beach with much of this 1.65 to 1.95 inches in 2 hours from 9 am to 11 am. Flooding into residents property and garages on 7th and 8th south of Marina Drive with streets full of water 12 inches at least.
December 2021FloodSeal Beach-Trained spotter report, 0.40 inch of rain from thunderstorm between 6:10 and 6:35 a.m. with moderate street flooding westside seal beach. 30 mph wind estimated.
December 2021FloodSeal Beach-Water up over the curbs and onto the sidewalks all over Old Town Seal Beach. 1.58 inch of rain since noon Wednesday.
December 2021FloodSeal Beach-Spotter reports one half inch pf rain since 6:00 a.m. Flooding was noted, which closed the Pacific Coast Highway from Warner to Goldenwest. Estimated wind gusts near 30 mph.
January 2019Flash FloodSeal Beach-Heavy rainfall began 7 pm on January 15th and inundated downtown Seal Beach. The heavy rain also affected parts of Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley. The flooding in Seal Beach old town affected homes with water entering garages and first levels. The Pacific Coast Highway was closed through the 16th due to the flooding and standing water. Radar estimated 2 inches of rain in about 2 hours with totals over 3 inches across northwest Orange County.
September 2015Flash FloodSeal Beach-A spotter reported the right lane of the Pacific Coast Highway flooded at the intersection with Main Street...road was nearly impassable.
February 2014FloodSeal Beach-A spotter in Seal Beach reported street flooding around 6 inches deep at the intersection of Anderson and Pacific Coast Highway. Skywarn also relayed a report of street flooding along Tustin Avenue. Fire department reported a swift water rescue in a storm drain at Placentia and Crowther Avenues, just north of Anaheim.
July 2003Rip CurrentSeal Beach-no account filed
January 2001Heavy RainSeal Beach-no account filed
December 2000High SurfSeal Beach-no account filed
March 1998Funnel CloudSeal Beach-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Orange County

Maps showing this location

17 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

3 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
ELECTRA (motor yacht)3.0 miles2023
St. Isidore Catholic Church4.7 miles2022
Huntington Beach Elementary School Gymnasium and Plunge7.6 miles1994

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 83001221 in Record Group 79.
Orange CountyAll 136 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.