Over the decades the waters of Puget sound had risen high enough to over top the 5 th
Avenue Dam. Spilling into what used to be capitol lake.
The lake, originally part of the city beautiful movement, was turned back into an estuary. The city was faced with what to do about the receded coastline of the former lake. After many proposals, (one of them involved using the site exclusively for historic naval battles.) The decision was made to construct traditional developments in the shallow side of the estuary. These buildings would then serve as anchor points for houseboats.
Now part of a new city beautiful movement, the capitol estuary centers around a main plaza with the capitol campus at eye level. For the first time in roughly 80 years, boating and swimming were allowed.
