Olympia, Washington

As Washington State's capital city, Olympia is home to one of the last great domed capitols built in America. Set on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound, it stands 28 stories high. Forty-two broad granite steps lead up to the entrance which symbolize Washington's place as the 42nd state in the Union. One word comes to mind when I try to describe the structure – Marble. The walls, the floors, the staircases are all made of marble (or granite or sandstone, which look just like the marble). This was the most formal looking capital we have visited so far. There were no pictures on the wall, no displays of any kind. It was almost austere in its grandeur. A team of thirty artisans spent five years carving the building's details in sandstone, marble, and wood. Stone ox skulls circle the base of the dome in a frieze that commemorates Washington's ox-cart pioneers. Elaborate plaster ceilings, rich with eagles and gilded rosettes, crown each legislative chamber. There were many chandeliers, all designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the last of his major commissions, and .the five-ton Angels of Mercy chandelier, centerpiece of the rotunda, hangs from the dome on a massive 101-foot chain – quite spectacular!