Joseph Henry Wohleb was just 23 years old when he arrived in Olympia in the spring of 1911 and began promoting himself as an architect. Raised in the San Francisco Bay area, he dropped out of high school after only one year to work as a shipwright and carpenter. No one seems to know why he turned his attention to architecture or why he moved to Budd Inlet. But over the next 47 years, until his death in 1958, Joseph Wohleb would leave his stamp on houses, factories, shops, and schools across Olympia. From office blocks on the State Capitol Campus to car dealerships downtown, Wohleb would eventually add more than a hundred buildings to Washington's capital city. Wohleb specialized in brewery designs and designed several facilities other than the Olympia Brewery. In 1946 Wohleb's eldest son, Robert, joined his father's architectural practice and the firm was renamed Wohleb and Wohleb. Joseph remained active in the firm until he passed away in 1958. After his father died, Robert continued the business as Wohleb & Associates until he passed away in a boating accident in 1966. Robert had been born in 1916 in Olympia, WA. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in architecture in 1939. After he joined his father's firm, he specialized in the design of breweries which he designed throughout the United States. Robert also designed the Olympia City Hall, St. Michael's Catholic Church and many other structures in and around Olympia, WA. After Robert died in 1966, the firm was purchased by Peters and Flotree in 1968. The firm is now the Flotree-Sogge Partnership.
In 1954, Harold D. Van Eaton, Director of the Department of Public Institutions of Washington State, requested a feasibility study for the possibility of converting the existing Labor and Industries Building that was located just off the State Capitol Group campus into a building to house the Washington State Library. It was proposed to remodel completely the interior of the existing Labor and Industries Building and construct a seven-tier and six-tier bookstack addition on the north and south ends of the existing building respectively to house WSL. It was summarized that it was feasible to turn the building into a "permanent" facility that would be adequate until about 1981. It should be noted that this proposal was not accepted and a new Washington State Library called the Pritchard Building was built on the Capitol Campus.
From the description of Washington State Library, 1954? / Wohleb and Wohleb A.I.A. & Associates, Architects and Engineers ; Harold D. Van Eaton, Director of Public Institutions, State of Washington. (Washington State Library, Office of Secretary of State). WorldCat record id: 213097534
