Mid-Century: The General Administration Building of Olympia, Washington (Oly 25)

The now-empty 1956 General Administration Building is a significant International Style building on the Washington Capitol Campus in Olympia. According to the nomination for the National Register of Historic Places,  

The building is also historically significant…as an intact example of Modern architecture in Olympia, Washington. The building was designed by prominent Tacoma architect, A. Gordon Lumm, in the International style distinctive for its horizontal cubical form and spare ornamentation. Its exterior minimalist appearance and interior architectural flexibility, including movable aluminum wall panels, demonstrate a growing aesthetic for modular space able to easily accommodate changing space and technology requirements. In this case, a building that needed to serve a diversity of state agencies housed in one structure. 

The building has been unoccupied since 2018 for many reasons. The wiring, plumbing, and structure no longer meet building codes. And more important, it is not seismically stable. During the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake (M_w = 6.8), the building developed cracks, and some employees refused to enter it. It was not built to modern seismic standards and is close to the bluff overlooking Capitol Lake. Considerable liquefaction occurred during the earthquake along Deschutes Parkway and at the southern end of the lake.  

The state determined that it was not cost effective to renovate the GA building and would demolish it, despite its architectural significance. As of this writing (January 2026), no work has started. For now, the state plans to replace it with a parking lot and toilet (yes, really!). Eventually, a new executive office complex may be built on the site. But will they save the toilet?

Poor George has mildew, Nov. 19, 2025 
(Fuji Acros II film, Pentax 28mm ƒ/3.5 shift lens, yellow filter) 

2024 view from Columbia Street SW (Leica M2, 21mm ƒ/4.5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens)

Compared to some mid-century architecture that I have seen, this one does not look bad to me. The eye is drawn horizontally along the windows and the concrete panels with the corrugated pattern running sideways. I prefer this to most 1960s brutalism concrete buildings. 

Visitors during the No Kings protest (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

These two photographs are from the east side of the building from Columbia Street SW. I used Panatomic-X film in my Hasselblad 501CM camera with the 40mm ƒ/4 CFE FLE lens, tripod-mounted.

The building is closed, but I took two interior views by placing my Samsung phone against rather dirty windows. I like the tubular lights in the 2nd picture above.

Status: Unknown. I will monitor progress.

On the Waterfront: Harbor Days in Olympia (Oly 24)

Dear Readers, Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2026 is prosperous and healthy, and thank you for reading along.

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Olympia really likes its waterfront! Harbor Days is a three-day festival of boats, food, children's' activities, sunshine, and antique tugboat races. A good time is had by all. Here are some pictures from the 2024 festival.

Percival Landing, Olympia (Tri-X 400 film, Rolleiflex 3.5E camera)

WWII era tug Commanche (the large vessel)

The Comanche is a sturdy old World War II navy tug, launched in 1943. I want onboard before the start of Harbor Days and spent an hour listening to two former crewmen relate stories. She is owned by the Comanche 202 Foundation in Tacoma. I do not know how far around Puget Sound she travels. This old-timer needs a lot of maintenance and overhauling. When young, she was powerful enough to tow aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean.

Where is the concert? (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

Lego artists of budding marine engineers

The commercial part of the Port of Olympia offered short tours for the public. Normally, the Port is a restricted area, so a guided tour promised to be very interesting. It was! The Port of Olympia's most common cargo now is lumber. Huge logs come into town on 18-wheeler trucks. They are sorted and labeled at the port and then loaded onto freighters. Most go to Japan and Korea. Every log has a label indicating its quality. Rarely, a cattle freighter takes cows to Vietnam. 

Machine for unloading logs from trucks

Serious forklift

Shuttlewagon - runs on rails and pavement

I took these photographs with a Rolleiflex 3.5E camera with 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens (5-element version) on Kodak Tri-X 400 film. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner operated by Silverfast software on a Windows 7 computer. I cleaned chemical blobs and dust with Photoshop CS6.

The Leica IIIC Explores Olympia with Ektar 100 Film (Oly 23)

It was time to exercise my 1949 Leica IIIC camera. An overcast morning in May of 2025 provided perfect soft light for Kodak Ektar 100 film. I have found the Ektar to be a bit garish in bright sun, but in overcast, it brings out the colors. Also, my mid-century 50mm Summitar and Jupiter-8 lenses are lower contrast than modern multicoated optics. In gloomy light, the Ektar tends to look blue through the Summitar, so when I scan it, I pull down the blue curve a small amount. 

Gull Harbor Road

I met the gent who owns this funny little electric car. It is a post-1979 Comuta-Car. Sebring, Florida–based Sebring-Vanguard made the original CitiCar from 1974-1977. Commuter Vehicles from California bought the design and manufactured the Comuta-Car from 1979 to 1982. Eight 6-volt lead-acid batteries supply power for the electric motor. The fellow said his purple car does run.

I think Toyota manufactured this little Chevrolet. It did not look too derelict. 

46th Avenue Northeast

Bigfoot is awaiting

This is a nice traditional wood barn. But beyond it is a modern steel building. I like the textures and patina of wood. I might have photographed the elusive Bigfoot.

Shinckle Road Northeast

The little coffee stand at 3525 Shinckle Road has been unused since at least 2022. It was originally on this lot because the street address on the door is correct. The A-frame house has a lot of roof area. This type of design works well in a locations with heavy snowfall, but that does not apply to Olympia.

Lilly Road

Hmmm, I could clean off the mildew and convert this bus into a camper. 

Slightly rough house, Lilly Road

West Bay Drive

Detroit iron in storage shed near Tugboat Annie's Restaurant

Kiddie car at warehouse

Tech Note

I took these photographs on Kodak Ektar 100 film with my Leica IIIC camera and a 5cm ƒ/2.0 Leitz Summitar lens. This is a 7-element coated lens designed before WWII. This lens is a rare one with no haze or scratches in the coating. The camera and lens have been to four continents and served the family for 75 years. How many other consumer goods can claim such a service life? I measured light with a Sekonic L318 light meter.

Leica IIIC and 5cm Summitar lens in extended position.
The large front glass is known for having a soft coating, but this one is still pristine.

Issue: When I used this Summitar lens on a Leica IIIG camera, the resolution was distinctly better than when mounted on my old IIIC. Also, the right side of each frame is out of focus. It is difficult to see the problem on the scale of internet display. Something is amiss with the lens mount. Some technician a long time ago may have lost some shims, and the mount is not quite correct. But it could take a lot of labor to get it right, so this IIIC will become a glass case display. I have more than enough 35mm cameras to keep me occupied.  

Looking wide in Olympia with the Voigtländer Snapshot Skopar lens (Oly 22)

The Voigtländer 25mm ƒ/4 "Snapshot" Sopar lens is a little gem of an optic for Leica thread mount (ltm) cameras. It is zone focus only and does not couple to the rangefinder. But estimating the distance is not a problem with a lens this wide. This lens is modern and multi-coated, in contrast to the many mid-century ltm lenses that are on the market. Many of them have haze, fungus, scratches, and damaged coatings, and were made before lens designers had access to computer optics programs to optimize performance. 

Here are some examples from May of 2025 in and around Olympia, Washington.

Olympia Outskirts

Woodard Bay Conservation Area, view north (ƒ/11)

Rainbow Rails and West Bay, view north from 4th Avenue Bridge (ƒ/8.0½)

Guard shack at former wood mill, West Bay Drive (1/100 ƒ/11½)

Unused wood chip conveyor belt, West Bay Drive

Downtown Olympia

Alley parallel to Washington Street (1/40 ƒ/8)

Railroad bridge over Capitol Lake

About once a week, a train trundles over this bridge and heads west to an industrial area in Tumwater. 

Slightly redecorated 1984 Volkswagen Westfalia Camper near Capitol Mall (1/60 ƒ/5.6½)

"Oly Girl" at her best

Summary:  This is a handy little lens with good optical output. The plane of focus curved in towards the photographer, so you need to be aware of this curvature when composing. Being multi-coated, it creates bright and contrasty color, at least on Kodak Ektar 100 film. The lens appears to resist veiling flare. It has a more contrasty and modern look than my Summitar and Jupiter-8 lenses, both of which are much older and have more primitive coatings. All in all, recommended if you are comfortable with estimating the focus and the ƒ/4 aperture. 

With the use of a Leica M to ltm adapter, I can use this SnapShot Skopar on my Leica M2 camera. 

(Standby for more examples in the future.)   

Olympia with Kodak Panatomic-X film (Oly 21)

My good friend from Buffalo, New York, sent me a roll of Kodak Panatomic-X film! Where did he find this treasure? Was this the last roll on earth? 

Panatomic-X was Eastman Kodak's great achievement from the middle of the 20th century, film-making excellence from the golden age of film photography. I have written about Panatomic-X before and concluded that because of the age, it is not worth seeing out unexposed rolls. But here was a great gift, so I headed out with nostalgia and anticipation. Thirty years ago, I typically exposed it at EI=20 or 25. This film has a reputation of aging well (as long as it was stored cool), so I decided to use it again at EI=20. This required a tripod for most frames. I used my 1950s Voigtländer Vito BL, a precise little camera with a superb 4-element coated 50mm ƒ/3.5 Color Skopar lens. This was a 1950s recompilation of the Tessar type of lens. And I had genuine Voigtländer color filters. A classic film in a classic camera, what could be better? 

Olympia

Here are some frames from my April 2025 walk around Olympia, Washington. It was a hazy spring day with no sky texture.

Tracks near Jefferson Street, view north (1/4 ƒ/11, light yellow filter)

Homeless people, Jefferson Street

Handsome traditional wood architecture on 9th Avenue (1/4 ƒ/11, light yellow filter)

This house is a few blocks from South Capitol, a neighborhood of beautiful traditional early 20th century homes. 

Burned out black house, now demolished (1/4 ƒ/11, light yellow filter)

7th Avenue railroad tunnel east entrance (1/4 ƒ/11, medium yellow filter)

When I first moved to town, the 7th Avenue tunnel puzzled me. I asked a homeless fellow where the tunnel emerged, and he replied "Near the black house." I wondered what he meant, what black house?  Walking on 7th Avenue, we saw a grungy house painted in black paint. Later, we found other black houses in the city. A few months later, the house burned. The mess remained on the lot for several months before someone cleaned the debris.

215 Thurston Avenue

This is an interesting door, and the markings change occasionally. I have photographed it before. (Update October 10, 2025: the building has been painted and this doorway is now boring)

Union, Washington

The Hunter Farm, on Washington Rte. 106, has a big barn and numerous out buildings. 

I love these kinds of complicated scenes. I will ask the owners sometime if I can return with my large format camera.

This ends our short tour with the famous Panatomic-X film. Standby for examples from Shelton, Washington.

Technical Stuff

The camera on the left is the Vito BL. I posed it with my 1949 Leica IIIC camera as a size comparison. I must be honest, the photos from the Vito are higher resolution than the ones from my old IIIC. The latter has some error with its lens mount. I would rate both as being built with similar craftsmanship and precision.