This commanding building overlooking Sylvester Park was built in 1892 as the Thurston County Courthouse. (Similarly romantic courthouses designed by the same architect, Willis Ritchie, stand in Port Townsend and Spokane.) Built out of Chuckanut sandstone, it was originally topped by eight turrets and a central, eight-sided clock tower that could be seen from all over town. Its rounded arches and massive stone bulk are typical of the Romanesque Revival style, which was popularly used in the late 1800s for train stations, churches, banks and government offices.

Thurston County didn't get to enjoy its courthouse for long. The structure had cost so much to build that the County found itself short of cash when a worldwide financial depression struck in 1893. At the same time, the new State of Washington was in desperate need of a new capitol. The old Territorial capitol, hurriedly built out of timber in 1856, was literally falling apart. Although the foundation for a new capitol was laid in 1894, further construction was stymied by hard economic times.

In 1901 the state solved both problems by buying the big stone courthouse for $350,000, adding a wing to the east and moving its lawmakers in for the legislative session of 1905. The former courthouse served as Washington's "temporary" statehouse until 1928 and is still referred to locally as "The Old Capitol."

The building's central clock tower was lost in a fire in 1928, and most of its turrets were destroyed in the earthquake of 1949. Even so, it remains the most fabulous architectural landmarks in downtown Olympia. It was sensitively renovated in 1993 and currently houses the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The Old Capitol is located east of Capitol Way, on the eastern edge of Sylvester Park. It is listed on both the National and Washington State Registers of Historic Places, as well as on the Olympia Heritage Register. The building is open to the public during business hours.

Old Capitol Building. Olympia Heritage Commission photo.

The Old Capitol and Sylvester Park, before the loss of the clock tower and the bell-roofed park bandstand. Jeffers Studio photo from the Washington State Capital Museum, Washington State Historical Society.