Hôtel des Monnaies, Paris

The Hôtel des Monnaies stretches along the Seine with a facade of twenty-one bays and a strictly symmetrical classical design. This building serves as the headquarters of the Monnaie de Paris, the oldest institution in France, founded in eight hundred sixty-four. Jean-Denis Antoine designed the structure in the seventeen seventies to consolidate various minting operations. During the French Revolution, officials cast cannons from the mint's bronze reserves, leaving the institution to focus solely on currency production in the decades that followed.