Mint Museum - Charlotte, NC - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

12. The MINT MUSEUM (open 10-5 Tues.-Sat.; 3-5 Sun.) corner Hampstead Place and Easter Rd., now an art gallery was reconstructed from materials of the original branch of the United States Mint, being an almost exact reproduction. The original building was designed by William Strickland (1787 - 1854) of Philadelphia, who was architect for the United States Customhouse, the Masonic Temple, and the Merchants Exchange in Philadelphia. Designed in the Federal style, the two-story structure is T-shaped in plan, the stem of the letter forming a long well-proportioned gallery on the main floor. The cross arm is formed by the foyer with rooms to the right and left of the entrance. The interior has vaulted ceilings and walls of local stone.

The one facade of the central section is broken by a severe pedimented portico approached by a flight of steps. Beneath the sloping eaves of the pediment a golden American eagle is perched with outspread wings. Stuart Warren Cramer, Sr., assayer of the mint (1889-93), wrote: "This eagle was a landmark in Charlotte when I first came here and a pet of Charlotte people, as well it might be, for it was perhaps the largest eagle in the world, being 14 feet from tip to tip, and five feet high. When I had to redecorate it, it took over 165 books of gold leaf and 10 books of silver leaf to cover it."

The assay office, established as a coinage mint in 1835, began operations two years later. It served the gold-producing districts of the southern Appalachian region, at that time the only gold-yielding territory in the country. The new building was occupied in 1845. During the War between the States it served as Confederate headquarters and hospital. Closed in 1913, the structure was razed in 1933 and rebuilt on the present site the following year. In the galleries are exhibited historic relics, ceramics, native and foreign handicrafts. The works of art include a canvas, Madonna and Child, by Francesco Granacci, from the Samuel H. Dress Collection.-North Carolina: A Guide to the Old North State 1939

The Mint Museum is North Carolina’s First Art Museum having been established in 1936. It has expanded to a second location in Charlotte's uptown district in 1999. Museum entry is $15 for adults.

Book: North Carolina Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 166-167 Year Originally Published: 1939

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