by Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard
April 21, 2026
A long-vacant office building on the Washington state Capitol campus will soon be no more.
The state is demolishing the General Administration Building on the northwest side of the campus.
The six-story, 283,865-square-foot structure has sat empty since 2018. It’s no longer up to code, and a survey found materials containing asbestos, lead paint and fluorescent light ballasts containing toxic chemicals. The state has said that entry is “hazardous to human health.”
State officials say renovating the building would be more expensive than replacing it. The budget for the current demolition project is $16.5 million, according to the state Department of Enterprise Services. Earlier forecasts had pegged the total cost at $18.5 million.
Major demolition is expected to begin in mid-August. Work is scheduled to wrap up in November, according to the state agency. In recent days, crews have been tearing pieces from inside the building through a hole in its north side and removing some exterior elements.A view of the north side of the General Administration Building, on April 17, 2026, as demolition gets underway. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is regarded as an “outstanding example” of post-World War II modernist architecture, according to its nomination for the register. Completed in 1956, it was designed by Tacoma architect A. Gordon Lumm. He also designed buildings at Western State Hospital and the County-City Building in Tacoma.
“It is built in the International Style, distinctive for its horizontal cubical form and spare ornamentation,” the nomination reads. “There are few examples in Olympia, and this is the only one associated with the Capitol Campus.”
The property, located at 210 11th Avenue SW, had been tabbed to house a temporary 293-stall parking lot after the building came down. This week, a Department of Enterprise Services spokesperson said it would be paved over as a laydown area to store construction materials and equipment. The vacant property’s permanent use will be up to the Legislature.
The state is working to preserve the building’s more historic elements.
A 315-square-foot mosaic mural made up of more than 150,000 squares of glass, marble and granite had been installed in the building since 1959. But the state moved it to the Helen Sommers Building next door in 2018.
The 11-foot-wide bronze seal on the building’s facade was removed this week. It’s being preserved for use elsewhere in the future.A contractor removes a 500-pound George Washington bust from the General Administration Building before taking it to storage. The bust was part of a state seal that was affixed to the side of the building. (Photo courtesy of Department of Enterprise Services)
Elements of the sandstone and granite exterior will also be stored. Signage, doors or wall panels will be stored or sold at surplus.
Salvageable items have been removed. Now crews are working on removal of hazardous materials.
In its heyday, the building represented the growth of state government and its recentralization in Olympia, as many agencies had been housed in Seattle.
In 1952, four Olympia property developers sued then-Gov. Arthur Langlie to get offices moved to the capital, according to the building’s nomination for the National Register of Historic Places from the state’s Historic Preservation Office.
The case eventually made its way to the state Supreme Court. In a 5-4 ruling, the justices decided the state constitution’s framers intended that government departments be based in the capital.
The state office building’s development in the mid-1950s was not well received by all. The First United Methodist Church had eyed the location for its new sanctuary, according to the nomination. The church was instead built at Legion Way and Boundary Street.
Neighboring parking lots to the building’s north and west will be closed during the demolition.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: [email protected].