Voiceover for the North Vestibule

Just inside the building are two bronze statues.  They are replicas of the statues that represent the State of Washington in Statuary Hall in Washington D.C..

The Marcus Whitman Statue

Marcus Whitman, a trained physician, was instrumental in bringing settlers to what is now Washington.  He was a missionary who traveled west with his wife, Narcissa, to establish a mission and settled on the Oregon trail near present day Walla Walla, Washington.  The Whitman Mission, called Waiilatpu, ministered to the Cayuse Indians and served as a way station to many pioneers. 

Mother Joseph was responsible for the construction of many hospitals and social service institutions in the Northwest. Mother Joseph was a Roman Catholic nun from Montreal, Canada. When she was 33 years old, she traveled with four other nuns to Washington Territory. Their mission was to care for the sick, homeless, and mentally ill. Mother Joseph designed and supervised the construction of 49 hospitals, schools, and orphanages throughout the Northwest. She was well known for her "begging tours," from which she solicited donations to fund the construction of these social institutions, many of them are still in existence today.

The Marble

 The gray marble in the vestibule and throughout the public hallways and rotunda was quarried from an island in Alaska.  In the center of the vestibule, beneath the marble floor, is a time capsule containing publications and artifacts from Washington State in the year 1976.

  Looking up in the North Vestibule, one will notice hand carved plaster rosettes and a bronze grill in the ceiling. The rosettes symbolize beauty.

This sailboat is a plaster relief, which shows an example of early industry in the state of Washington.

Louis Comfort Tiffany of New York supplied the chandeliers and floor lamps, as well as most of the other light fixtures in the building.