The buildings in which the business of coining was formerly carried on, having become incommodious is well as ruinous, this grand and extensive establishment was designed. It is erected on Tower Hill, at no great distance from the fortress; and its general appearance is creditable to the country, and its peculiar notions, as there is nothing unnecessarily showy about it. The building of the new mint, and the numerous offices attached to the establishment, occasioned the removal of all the old houses on the left hand side of East Smithfield down to Norwich court and Butcher row; the street which was before narrow and dangerous, being now rendered commodious and broad. The improvement has also added considerably to the good appearance of the neighbourhood. The new mint, which has the peculiar advantage of being situated on an acclivity ascending from the Thames, would, were some interruptions to the sight removed, have a most commanding appearance. It was designed and executed by Mr. Smirke, jun., and its style of architecture is Grecian. In its plan and elevation it is a fabric well adapted to business, and particularly to the purpose intended: but, probably, it may strike the curious observer, that the houses on each side of it, intended for the residence of the principal officers engaged in the coinage, would have much more correctly assimilated with the fabric, if they had been fronted with the new stucco, and ornamented in the same style, so as to form a perfect whole. Here are steam-engines, and all those convenient and mechanical contrivances, which for a long time were only to be found at Soho, near Birmingham. The mint is inaccessible to strangers, except they have special recommendation, or immediate business with the officers.
Other London Buildings:
New Court House, or Westminster Guildhall
General List of other Noblemen's Residences
Source: Leigh's New Picture of London. Printed for Samuel Leigh, 18, Strand;
by W. Clowes, Northumberland Court. 1819