by Molly Walsh
For over eight decades, the Olympia Armory has been a towering figure on Olympia’s Eastside Street, and throughout shifting seasons and surroundings, the 1930s Art Moderne architecture remains a constant, standing out from both the nearby downtown corridors and residential neighborhoods. Through much of its history, the Olympia Armory served as a headquarters for the Washington National Guard. According to Valerie Roberts, building manager for the Olympia Armory, the City of Olympia was gifted the Armory building by the State of Washington in 2021, with the stipulation that it be used as a community art center for at least a ten-year period.
The development of a centralized arts hub has been a longtime pursuit for the City of Olympia, with compounded enthusiasm from local residents and organizations. Roberts said the city has called for a community-centered art space since the 1990s, repeatedly citing the demand in city planning documents.
“It has been addressed as a community need in over nine different feasibility studies and community plans,” said Roberts. “So it has been a…desire to have one for quite a long time, and we’ve been slowly, as a city, working on finding out how to make this happen.”
Over the years, the Olympia Armory developed a reputation as a gathering space. And alongside the operation of the National Guard, the building was a regular setting for governors’ balls, clothing exchanges, basketball games and even a car show that took place inside the Drill Hall. According to Roberts, the building’s continued use as an event space over the years also led some local stakeholders to view the property as an ideal site for a potential creative space.
“There were multiple community partners who have always dreamed of this being the art center for the community, including the Eastside Neighborhood Association, identifying it as a desired spot for a community center for them.”
Since 2021, plans have emerged to transform the building into a multi-use creative campus and event space that will also serve as the new home of eight anchor partners consisting of local nonprofit organizations. The anchor partners are the Bridge Music Project, Capital City Pride, Community Print, Kokua Services /Hummingbird Studio, Olympia Film Collective, Olympia Lamplighters, PARC Foundation and Thurston Community Media.
From the start, creating a vision for the Olympia Armory has been driven by public input. Roberts said that during the initial planning process, the city collaborated with the consultant firm Framework Cultural Placemaking and saw interest from thousands of participants both through online spaces and a series of open houses, focus groups and listening sessions. This public input eventually helped form the Armory Creative Campus Concept Plan, which was adopted by the Olympia City Council in late 2022.
“The Armory Creative Campus will be many different things, and there will be a lot of different ways that you can engage and use the space as a community member,” said Roberts.
The Armory Creative Campus Concept Plan is a multi-year proposal that addresses both necessary improvements and offers a potential vision of the facilities and resources that may one day be available on the property. To make the project more manageable, Roberts said construction is being split into multiple phases, with Phase One of construction addressing the most pressing elements that are essential for operating as a creative campus, including bringing the building to modern safety code and making it more accessible, including the installation of an elevator and fire sprinklers, hazardous material abatement, creating accessible restrooms, and ensuring there are enough restrooms for the expected building occupancy.
After Phase One construction is completed, future construction phases and building enhancements may be revisited based on budget and community need. The projected cost for Phase One construction is around $8 to10 million, and if a completed version of the Concept Plan were to be carried out, the estimated cost would be $24 million.
As health and safety improvements are made on the Olympia Armory, the Concept Plan highlights the importance of retaining and restoring many of the building’s original 1930s Art Moderne features. Originally designed by architect Joseph Wohleb, the Armory has maintained historical charm throughout its interior and exterior, including geometric-style doors at the grand entrance and glass block windows lining portions of the building’s upper staircase. There are also plans to restore the building’s original long rectangle window panes to allow for more natural light, especially in common areas and the Drill Hall.
The Armory’s environmental impact will also be considered alongside Phase One of construction. As a part of the Department of Enterprise Services Energy Savings Program, the Department of Enterprise Services and Phase One contractor, Ameresco, are in the process of analyzing various systems and features of the Olympia Armory, collaborating with local architectural firm Carve Architects to identify potential improvements that can be made to increase the building’s energy efficiency.
“There’s a lot of benefits to doing it this way,” said Roberts. “We are able to take this from a very climate-conscious lens, we can upgrade a historic building and demonstrate that you can be climate-conscious and create an energy-efficient building.”
The Energy Savings Program’s review of the Armory began in spring of 2024, with completed results expected later this year. Phase One construction is set to start at the beginning of 2025. The building will be closed to the public throughout the construction process, and an official opening celebration for the updated Armory is currently slated for summer 2026, but Roberts said the opening may be subject to change.
In the meantime, the City of Olympia is seeking out a permanent name for the Olympia Armory. Community members have been invited to share their name ideas online through the month of September, and a meeting is scheduled at the Armory on October 17, where community members will be able to provide feedback on the potential names. More details on the meeting can be found on the Engage Olympia website.
WHAT
Armory Creative Campus Concept Plan
WHERE
515 Eastside St SE, Olympia
LEARN MORE
https://engage.olympiawa.gov/help-name-these-future-parks-facilities