Evergreen Awarded Stewardship of Two Historic Olympia Buildings

Located in Olympia’s South Capitol neighborhood, the historic Lord Mansion was constructed in 1923 for Clarence J. Lord—a local banker who served as the mayor of Olympia in 1902 and 1903—and his wife Elizabeth. After Mr. Lord died in 1937, his family donated the mansion to the state for public use.

The mansion became the State Capital Museum in 1942, but was closed for repairs in 2014. Since then, the building had remained largely vacant. Luckily, however, that is no longer the case; on July 1, the state legislature transferred stewardship of the building to Evergreen.

Along with the mansion, Evergreen received stewardship of the adjacent coach house. Designed in the same stunning Spanish Colonial style as the mansion, this small, renovated building once housed the Lord family’s horse-drawn carriages.

The public can now rent the Lord Mansion and Coach House for events, with the profits being used to offset the costs of building maintenance and operations. Bryce Winkelman, Evergreen’s Conference Services Manager, has been tasked with overseeing the facilities. He sees the buildings as a great opportunity for Evergreen to make an impact in the community.

“It will help promote Evergreen as a unique, vibrant, and local destination for teaching and learning across differences,” said Winkelman. “The diverse mix of events that have already occurred at the Lord Mansion expose the greater community to Evergreen and allow the college to honor and preserve the public legacy of the buildings.”