Washington State Capitol

Situated on a forested bluff above downtown Olympia, with views of Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains and Mount Rainier, the Washington State Capitol embodies a uniquely Northwestern sense of place for the state’s center of governance. J.C. Olmsted developed initial site plans in 1911, which, after the core capitol buildings were designed by Wilder & White, were completed after a long hiatus by James Frederick Dawson in 1927-1931.

Olmsted-designed features include a rich spatial hierarchy achieved through major and minor axes and a series of outdoor rooms framed by layered vegetation. Dawson wrote that “the planting,… should, if possible, be of the finest quality and the largest size as was possible to obtain,… confined to dignified masses… and not in any way be scattered or small in effect. …the buildings were very large and of a splendid character, and… the planting ought to correspond…” [Report by Dawson to OB_04-25-1927_LOC-OAR-B-05350_im.34] Ongoing rehabilitation of the Capitol Campus aims to restore the integrity of the original Olmsted Brothers’ design, the bones of which remain remarkably intact. Their 1928 Specifications for Works on the Grounds of the Washington State Capitol detailed an extensive grading plan, rock excavation, and drainage system.