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Building History

E. A. Zabel commissioned architect Joseph Wohleb to design the Capitol Theatre, Olympia, WA, in the early 1920s. The construction of the theatre may have cost $180,000. In appearance, the Capitol's front strongly resembled the Pike Street facade of B. Marcus Priteca's Coliseum Theatre (1915) in Seattle, WA.

Building Notes

The front facade possesses an amazing aluminum-clad ticket booth with Streamlined Modern details. tel: 360.754.5378 (2009);

Alteration

The Capitol Theatre had much of its interior replaced following a fire in 1937; terra cotta sculptures of comedy/tragedy masks once flanked the 7 circular art glass windows illustrating the dramatic muses. It sustained significant damage to its plaster surfaces (particularly to the ceiling of the auditorium) in the Nisqually Earthquake of 02/28/2001. The 1940s marquee of the Capitol Theatre was removed beginning 01/28/2008; a vertical blade sign, replicating the original from c. 1924, was put in place in 11/2008.

PCAD id: 13879