San Francisco Mint

The building you are approaching is the third facility to serve as the United States Mint in San Francisco, completed in 1937. While it is often eclipsed in fame by the historic Old Mint downtown, this site represents a major shift in federal security architecture. Designed in a style known as stripped classicism, the structure was engineered specifically to be fortress-like, featuring a steel framework and heavy reinforced concrete walls capable of withstanding intense seismic activity and fire. It was built during a time when the federal government sought to consolidate its gold reserves, and for years, it operated with a level of internal security that included its own self-starting power generators, elaborate vault systems, and even pipes capable of flooding interior spaces with tear gas to thwart unauthorized intruders.