Early lawmakers groused for years that Washington's capital city lacked a truly first-class hotel. Local investors rose to the challenge in 1890 and built a four-story gingerbread palace on the west side of Capitol Way between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. "Lighted throughout by electricity, heated throughout by steam," proclaimed an ad in the local newspaper. Other amenities of the posh Olympia Hotel included an elevator, a billiard hall, a laundry and excellent cuisine. The grand hotel remained a favorite with legislators and lobbyists until it caught fire and burned to the ground in 1904.

Fifteen years later another hotel - built out of brick this time - began to take shape near Sylvester Park. State lawmakers were meeting then at the Old Capitol, diagonally across the park from the site of the new hotel. As in the 1890s, local investors hoped that construction of a fine hotel would please legislators and squelch sporadic efforts to move the state capital.

The six-story Hotel Olympian featured tall arched windows, four dining rooms and an oversized lobby where lawmakers met to forge deals for decades. It debuted on the same high-spirited weekend in 1920 that the new Elks Lodge threw open its doors on the other side of the town square.

The venerable Hotel Olympian closed in the 1970s. The building has since been adapted into retail/restaurant space and apartments while retaining its original Georgian Revival charm.

The Hotel Olympian is located just east of Capitol Way, across from Sylvester Park on Legion Way. The building is open to the public.

Hotel Olympian. Olympia Heritage Commission photo.

Hotel Olympian. Postcard from a private collection.