Sometimes a camera phone will do

The view from my office.

What am I?

Detail, Old Capitol Building, Olympia

I'm thinking it's a stylized gryphon, but I'm open to suggestion.

A Bastion of Learning

Old State Capitol Building, Olympia

The Old Capitol started life as a courthouse in 1892 and became the official Capitol in 1906 when the county commissioners decided it was too expensive. Following construction of the current Capitol in the 1920s, it became a state office building and is now home to Washington's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
I particularly wanted to "blog" this because it bears some striking similarities to the museum and former city hall recently featured on WichitaKsDailyPhoto. A little googling revealed that both buildings share a style known as Richardson Romanesque, which was named for the architect Henry Hobson Richardson. These two buildings each seem to have had other architects, but were completed at almost exactly the same time.

Like the Wichita building, the Old Capitol once had a clock tower, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1928 and never replaced. The state undertook a considerable renovation in 1983 and the interior is lovely.

Ancestors -- we've all got 'em

Crosby House, Tumwater

This historic home (1860) is a stone's throw from the pioneer cabin surrounded by hydrangeas that I showed you a couple of days ago. The original occupants of the Crosby House were the family of Nathanial Crosby III, grandfather of Bing Crosby. Apparently, the house contains a grand piano that came by ship around Cape Horn. It's now a museum that is open to the public a few hours a week, but I've never been. I really should remedy that.

Other sources: Olympia Tumwater Foundation, City of Olympia

As blue as blue can be

Pioneer Log Cabin, Tumwater

This cabin (1969) features hand-peeled fir logs and a split cedar shake roof, similar to homes built by the first American settlers on Puget Sound in 1845. The hydrangeas that bracket it are spectacular.

Stories to tell

General Administration Building and Chief William Shelton’s story pole, West Capitol Campus

The mid-century style GA Building (1956) is scheduled for demolition in 2010 to make way for a new Heritage Center that will house the Secretary of State, the State Archives, and visitor facilities. The painted story pole was begun by Chief Shelton of the Snohomish Tribe and finished by other tribal carvers after his death. It was dedicated in 1940. This is not, strictly speaking, a totem pole:

A totem pole symbolizes a family’s history through the depiction of certain animals and their cultural legends. A story pole, on the other hand, puts its emphasis on teaching children community responsibility and cultural attitudes through the depictions of these same animal characters. Story poles are most often carved from the interior pillars of ceremonial longhouses. Therefore, this free-standing pole provides a rare look at carvings typically seen only within sacred structures of the Snohomish and other Salish tribes. The story pole features 21 beautifully carved figures, each teaching a certain life lesson.

--General Administration Website

Corinthian order

Pediment and upper portico of the Legislative Building, West Capitol Campus

The acanthus leave on the columns seemed to relate to the foliage in the foreground.

The other Washington

Washington State Legislative Building, seen from the Sunken Garden, West Capitol Campus

Built in 1928 at a cost of $6.7 million, the Legislative Building is comprised of more than 173 million pounds of stone, brick, concrete and steel. It is the fourth tallest masonry dome in the world, rising 287 feet high. At the time, many viewed the building and its furnishings as a "Monument to Extravagance."

Cuspidors costing $47.50 apiece? Outrageous. Or so it seemed in 1928 when silk handkerchiefs sold for a mere 65 cents and women’s girdles could be had for $1.25. Yet Washington had agreed to pay that inflated price for the ornate spittoons to be strategically located around its new state capitol building. No one objected to the spittoons themselves -- every well-equipped office had them at a time when many men, including state legislators, chewed tobacco. It was the price that was shocking.

--HistoryLink.org

The dome shifted about an inch during the Nisqually earthquake in February 2001, which along with other damage, required the building to be closed for repair for three years. During that time, the state legislature met in temporary structures and other nearby buildings. Lobbyists were sometimes reduced to operating out of tents.