Photographer Joseph Jeffers traveled throughout Puget Sound in the early 1900s capturing Northwest faces and places with his bulky box camera. In 1913 he built a new commercial and portrait photography studio at the corner of Fifth and Washington. Joseph Jeffers was killed in a climbing accident in 1924 while on a photographic expedition in the Olympic Mountains. His widow, Opal Jeffers, continued to run Jeffers Studio until 1930, when their son, Vibert, took over the family business. By the time Vibert Jeffers retired in 1973, the Jeffers Studio archives contained roughly 50,000 photographic images - buildings, people, street scenes and more - chronicling much of the 20th century in and around Olympia.

The Jeffers Studio, complete with large north-facing windows to capture the most flattering light, was designed by architect Joseph Wohleb. It was apparently his first commission in Olympia after moving north from California in 1911. But it would be far from his last. Over the next 45 years, until his death in 1958, Wohleb would leave his stamp on more than 100 buildings in Washington's capital city.

Wohleb was clearly acquainted with both the old Spanish missions of California and the new Mission Revival architecture that had gained popularity there. His design for the Jeffers Studio featured the stucco walls and red roof tiles that were typical of the style. These same California details appear on many Wohleb buildings throughout downtown Olympia, lending his adopted hometown a dash of the sun-baked southwest.

The Jeffers Studio is located on the southeast corner of Washington Street and Fifth Avenue SW. It 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.

Jeffers Studio. Olympia Heritage Commission photo.

Wohleb's first known commission in Olympia was the 1913 Jeffers Studio. Photographers Joseph and H. W. Jeffers had outgrown a wooden studio at Fifth Avenue and Washington Street when they hired Wohleb to design them a bigger, more permanent structure at the same location. The Jeffers brothers, followed by Joseph's son Vibert, photographed state legislators, babies, weddings, graduations, downtown businesses and neighborhood street scenes, creating an astonishing archive of the Olympia of their day. ©Jeffers Studio photo from the Susan Parish Collection.