On August 3, 1911, the Washington State Capitol Commission awarded first prize in a design competition for the state's new capitol to New York architects Walter R. Wilder and Harry K. White. Relatively unknown and young, they won over 32 other entries with an ambitious plan for six capitol buildings. Their design was grounded in classical architectural styles recalling the temples of ancient Greece and Rome and ranks among the last examples of the American Renaissance and City Beautiful era. The group of buildings was arranged to face Capitol Lake, Puget Sound, and the distant Olympic Mountains and to be seen from afar as a single large structure supporting the dome of the Legislative Building at the center. Work began in 1911, the fifth building was completed in 1940, and the sixth building planned for the western edge of the campus was never built.