Visiting the Washington State Capitol - August 8, 2013

Wednesday was our last day of driving along the coast. In South Bend WA we stopped to look at the County Court House, which is on the Register of National Historic Places because of its gorgeous stained glass dome. I am thinking we may have to start collecting county court houses – they could be miniature versions of our beautiful state Capitols.

Highway 101 makes a loop around Olympia National Park and ends in Seattle. However, that was more driving then we were willing to do, so we left 101 in Aberdeen WA and went on Highway 12/8 to Olympia WA. Now we had arrived at the spot which was the main reason for choosing this route for our vacation. We have been collecting (visiting) state capitals for several years. I have a passport type book which has a page for a stamp from each state capital. It is almost full (which is why I may have to switch to court houses).

The Capitol in Olympia is located on a hill overlooking the city and the waters of Puget Sound. It was built in the 1920’s by a New York company, so many of the touches are more east coast than west coast! The Olmsted Brothers, who designed Central Park, also did the original landscaping. It is a rather traditional looking sandstone building with a sandstone and brick dome. The two wings hold the two Legislative chambers. There are four other similarly designed buildings on the campus – one is called the Temple of Justice. After climbing the numerous granite stairs outside the entrance we went in to discover the beautiful gray marble floors and stairs. All of the chandeliers and lighting fixtures are Tiffany. They have more Tiffany than any other building in the country.

The marble stairs go up on four sides to the rotunda floor beneath the dome. In the four corners of the rotunda are huge brass Tiffany firepots. The Roman Senate would use similar signal lights to call the first Senate into session. I loved that symbolism. We also admired the beautiful brass railings around the balconies. However, the building had a certain dinginess about it. The receptionist indicated that the government was having trouble maintaining the building. All of the flowers in the grounds had been removed and the two glass greenhouse conservatories were closed due to lack of funds. We gave them our support by eating lunch in their cafeteria before heading off to Tacoma WA.