When the legislature finally approved an appropriation of additional funds in 1897, newly elected Governor John Rogers vetoed it.

Rogers advocated the purchase of the existing Thurston County Courthouse in downtown Olympia, now known as the "Old Capitol" and home to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

This time, the commission was interested in constructing a group of buildings to serve as the capitol rather than a single facility and selected the design submitted by the company Walter Wilder and Harry White.

Construction of the campus began in 1912, and the Temple of Justice was completed in 1920, followed by the Insurance Building and the power and heating plant.

The Capitol Campus was placed on the National Register of Historic Districts in 1974 and contains or contributes to some of the most valued views in the state, including the Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound, Mt.

The design of the Capitol Campus is a grand example of the City Beautiful style of the Progressive era of the early 20th Century.

The Capitol Conservatory, built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration, housed various types of flora until it was permanently closed on September 5, 2008.

Over time, George Washington's nose has worn down due to foot traffic on it and it is now roped-off to prevent further damage.

This building is the dominant feature of the capitol grounds, with its dome 287 feet (87 m) high, making it the tallest self-supporting masonry dome in the United States, and fifth tallest in the world, surpassed only by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Global Vipassana Pagoda in Mumbai, and Santa Maria Del Fiore in Florence.

[7] The building has a rectangular footprint and is constructed of brick and concrete and faced on the exterior with sandstone quarried from Wilkeson, Washington.

It could fit a full-size Volkswagen Beetle if put in sideways and features life-size faces, human figures, and 202 lights.

The legislature decided to renovate and remodel the existing building in 1973, and since then the private, non-profit Governor's Mansion Foundation has maintained it.

[13] The Spafford mural was covered by a curtain after being displayed for less than a year, with critics of the work in the House chambers calling it "pornographic".

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake in 1965 had even worse results, with the dome's brick buttresses left in such poor condition that a major aftershock could have caused them to collapse entirely, according to a state report.

The Nisqually earthquake of 2001 caused further damage, including a splintered buttress, but the earthquake-resistance work prevented more serious harm to the building.

Renovations completed in 2004 by Design Company EYP Architecture & Engineering fixed the dome permanently to the rest of the building.