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Building History

Construction began on this mint, 05/26/1870 and ended in 1874; the building, one of most secure on the West Coast at the time, cost a staggering $2,000,000 to erect; this cost went to securing the cavernous vaults that served as the gold bullion depository for the Western United States; it served as a working mint until 1937, when its functions were transferred to a new mint on Market Street; this second facility produced a high proportion of the gold coins minted in the U.S., and also transformed a significant amount of the silver excavated from Nevada's Comstock Lode into coinage after 1873; its venerable Greek Revival Style exterior recalled earlier Neo-Classical banks built in the U.S., and would anticipate the many that would be built until the 1930s; nothing said permanence and stability to the public like a Greek Revival facade.

Langley’s San Francisco Directory for the Year 1877, said of the US Mint building and its operations: “The United States Mint is an elegant and durable building on the northwest corner of Mission and Fifth streets, fronting one hundred and sixty and one half feet on the former and two hundred and seventeen and one sixth feet on the latter. The building is two stories high besides the basement. The parapet walls are fifty-six feet high; the pediment seventy-five, and the two chimneys each one hundred and forty-two feet. The form of the building is a hollow parallelogram, one hundred and two and one half feet by forty-three and three quarters, and paved with flagging. Six solid fluted columns, massive and lofty, five beauty and grandeur to the main entrance on Fifth Street. The style of architecture is the Doric. The coinage during 1876 was follows: Gold, number of pieces, one million six hundred and eleven thousand, value $32,022,500; silver, pieces, twenty-eight million seven hundred and seventy-one thousand, value, $10,682,000; total coinage, $42,704,500. In 1875, the refining department was placed in operation. Its capacity is about one million ounces per month, an amount frequently insufficient to meet the demands for its services. Charges for refining: three hundred parts gold and less, 2 ½ cents; three hundred and a half parts gold to six hundred thousand, 4 cents; six hundred and a half parts gold to seven hundred and fifty thousand, 6 cents; seven hundred and fifty and a half parts gold and over, 8 cents. When necessary, outside establishments are employed to assist the U.S. Mint in its refining department.” (See Langley’s San Francisco Directory for the Year 1877, p. 13.)

Building Notes

The San Francisco Mint #2 was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988; National Register ID Number: 66000231; GSA Building Number: CA0095ZZ.

In 1966, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) passed a resolution at its 98th Annual Convention in Denver, CO, calling on Mayor John F. Shelley (1905-1975) of San Francisco to restore and preserve the Mint.

The eastern portion of the mint was remodeled into a museum in 1972; the west side continued to house U.S. Treasury Offices in 2005;