Thurston County built this sober gray courthouse in 1930, directly across the street from the state's new Capitol Campus. Local architect Joseph Wohleb chose a severe, no-nonsense style that mixed Classical "Greek temple" symmetry with the spare lines and ziggurat shape of the modern Art Deco style. The plain, smooth face of Wohleb's courthouse boasts little decoration beyond a few bands of low-relief carving and four imperious eagles perched above the front doors. Its stepped-back upper floor, with noticeably smaller windows, was once the county jail. Sandstone for the exterior was quarried locally at Tenino; interior corridors are lined with Alaskan marble, which matches the marble used in the halls of nearby State Capitol.

For almost half a century this courthouse was the focus of county government. It was where County Commissioners tended to business, where votes were tallied on election night and where couples came for their marriage license before they tied the knot. When Thurston County outgrew this space and moved to a larger courthouse complex in 1977, the old gray sandstone building was slated for demolition. It was saved through a groundswell of public support, but sat vacant for more than a decade before it was finally restored and reopened as mixed-use office space. Its elegant south courtroom now houses the law library of the State Attorney General's Office, continuing the building's long and dignified legal tradition.

The Old Thurston County Courthouse is located on the east side of Capitol Way at 11th Avenue SE. It is listed on both the National and Washington State Register of Historic Places, as well as on the Olympia Heritage Register. The building is open to the public.

Old Thurston County Courthouse. Olympia Heritage Commission photo.

Old Thurston County Courthouse. ©Jeffers Studio photo from the Susan Parish Collection.