Old United States Mint

1. May 26, 1870

   The cornerstone of the second San Francisco Mint was laid. The branch mint of 1854 on Commercial Street had been outgrown, and the Treasury's supervising architect Alfred B. Mullett drew a Classical Revival building faced in sandstone shipped by three schooners from Newcastle Island, British Columbia, on a base of Rocklin granite.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
2. 1874

   The Old Mint was completed in 1874 at a cost of about two million dollars, to the design of Alfred B. Mullett, Assistant Supervising Architect of the Treasury: four wings around an open central courtyard on a concrete foundation, two full floors over a street-level ground floor, with partial attics under the east and west gables. It served at once as foundry, fortress, factory and ornamented offices, and is often called the last major work of classical revival architecture built in America.

   88 Fifth Street, The Old Mint revised mitigated negative declaration, SF Planning Dept., 2005
3. 1900

   Built.

4. April 18, 1906

   The most prominent building in the area to survive the fire intact, with thick stone and brick walls, cast iron fire shutters, internal fire suppression reservoirs and a workforce that put out every fire that entered the building.

   Central SoMa Historic Context Statement, adopted 2016
5. 1914

   The Mint was electrified.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
6. 1937

   One of only two Treasury Section of Fine Arts commissions completed in San Francisco: a series of bronze eagle reliefs by Albert Stewart, of which one survives.

   San Francisco New Deal Historic Context Statement, adopted 2023
7. 1937

   The building lost its purpose in 1937, when the new San Francisco Mint opened on Hermann Street near Market and Duboce. Other uses followed; it held a museum from 1973 until 1994, and federal offices alongside, and stood empty by 2005. The Historic American Buildings Survey documented it in 1962.

   88 Fifth Street, The Old Mint revised mitigated negative declaration, SF Planning Dept., 2005
8. 1958

   Architects Mario Ciampi and Allyn Martin presented plans to redevelop the site as 'Gold Plaza', an urban park surrounded by modern office towers, with only the Mint's columns left standing. The opposition the plan aroused led to the Mint's designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

   Central SoMa Historic Context Statement, adopted 2016
9. 1961

   The Old Mint was designated a National Historic Landmark; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
10. June 24, 1976

    The Old Mint's cornices were being replaced in reinforced fibre glass.

    San Francisco City Planning Commission minutes, San Francisco Public Library (Internet Archive)
11. 1991

    Recorded as an unreinforced-masonry structure of merit in the city's seismic-safety survey, which dated the building to 1870.

    San Francisco Department of City Planning, Environmental Impact Report for an Ordinance to Require Seismic Retrofit of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings, Case No. 1990.832E, July 1991.
12. 2003

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 236, Old United States Mint.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
13. May 2006

    Issued Permit M37409

    Streetspace.

14. Oct 2006

    Issued Permit 200610256041 $$$ $729,000

    Demolition of non-historic tenant interior, raised floors, suspended ceilings, partition walls and electrical runs associated with these elements.

15. Sep 2007

    Issued Permit 200709284078 $$$ $35,000

    Voluntary temporary structural shoring for two walls at the attic.

16. Mar 2013

    Permit 201303202607 $$$ $54,000

    This permit is for installation of new temporary fire alarm system only. (this fire alarm system will be upgraded to current code in effect at the time of the submittal of a permit for a future tenant improvement that will include change of use to an assembly occupancy.) fire watch still required.

17. Apr 2013

    Permit 201304043750 $$$ $1

    Occupant load verification & temp exiting plan for temporary assembly permit from fire dept. old mint building exiting plan & occupancy load verification. establish the temporary maxinum occupancy allowed for the building, based on this occupancy code verification plans.

18. Jun 2013

    Permit 201306199915 $$$ $1

    As built revisions to approved app #201303202607; delete 2 manual alrms, delete 1 strobe and relocate 2 horn/strobes from original scope.

19. Dec 2016

    Permit 201612275887 $$$ $2,500

    Install five new fire alarm system notification devices and new remote power supply on the 1st floor. ref app#2013-0404-3750. n/a for maher.

20. Sep 2018

    Issued Permit 201809271652 $$$ $2,125

    Replacement of a single entry door at the mint street side of the subject property for accessibility purposes. deteriorated historic doors to be retained on site to guide future restoration.

4 nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits are omitted from the timeline. The city's statement on early settlement era styles dates the building twice and disagrees with itself: its landmark list and illustration caption give 1874, its statement of significance about 1869. The 2025 assessor's roll gives this parcel a build year of 1900 against the record's 1874.