The landscape the Olmsted Brothers designed for the Washington State Capitol landscape contributed to the redefinition of the classical civic landscape. It marked a shift away from Beaux-Arts formality in civic landscapes at the height in popularity of City Beautiful planning principles, and contributed to the acceptance of park-like landscape design in association with neo-classical architecture. Over the next sixty years however, designs and plans for the capitol campus paid little attention to the systems worked out in the original plans.

This thesis traces the history of the design of the Washington State Capitol grounds in Olympia, examining possible influences over the spatial layout of landscape elements. It then presents subsequent plans for the State Capitol grounds and compares them with the original plans. Finally, this thesis analyzes the designs, focusing on regional and site sensitivity, symbolism, and anticipation of uses.

This overview is intended to serve as a source for future reference - to provide a documented context in which to place various cultural resources located within or adjacent to a Capitol landscape. It does not examine the meanings which the citizens of the state infuse into their capitol. Although this is a significant aspect of the meaning of the Capitol landscape, it is beyond the scope of this thesis. Further research into the popular meaning of the capitol landscape is important to determine how the intended meanings of the designers are communicated to the public.