Mullett-Smith Press Welcomes you...
is an on-going publication on-line which tells
about
the many buildings designed by A. B. Mullett with emphasis on how the
building is being used today, how it is being kept up, if at all, and
news of
interest to Historic Preservationists who may wish to take some action
to
prevent the loss of the buildings.
There are links to other sites with buildings by A. B. Mullett.
These
pages do not have return links so use back button on browser to return
or
bookmark this page.
- Charles Town,
West Virginia Jail, this building will now be saved! It had been
struggling for survival.
Please also visit the JCPASH
site to see the latest news on this structure. It is not by
A. B. Mullett but is designed by his company. After his death, his son,
Thomas Mullett, was responsible for obtaining the contract for
construction by A. B. Mullett & Company. Thomas was the
businessman, securing contracts for the company. His brother, Fred was
one of the many architects working for the firm and usually did the
design work. But this time Tom is actually the designer as well. This
building is also listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation
site in their archives. The article is entitled, "Jail Runs out of
Time" and was published January 28, 2003. In the article readers are
told that they may join JCPASH (Jefferson County Preservation Alliance
Save our Heritage). Membership is $15 per year or $25 per couple per
year. The address is P.O. Box 734, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425. Call
304-535-6620. The best news now is that in the elections
the County
Commissioners changed. Two candidates for County
Commission who are Pro-Heritage (Jim Surcamp and Dale Manuel) won.
JCPASH member Carol Gallant informed us: The building is saved, ideas
are being collected to decide how to use each part of the building.
- San Francisco Mint: National
Historic Preservtionists and lovers of National architectural Treasures
please help this building meet the deadlines for repairs
and implementation of conversion of the old Mint to a museum.
This means it needs donations. Visit the web pages of the Historical
Society: http://www.sfhistory.org/index.php?pageid=7.
The ownership of the old Mint has been
transfered now. The City of San Francisto reached an exclusive
negotiating agreement with the San Francisco Museum and Historical
Society for the development of the Old Mint. Three RFP (Request for
Proposals) were submitted to the city. The task force recommended that
the city accept the exclusive negotiation with the San Francisco Museum
and Historical Society. Specific conditions, milestones and design
plans are to be met to maintain or continue this agreement. This
agreement was approved June 20, 2003. On the same day the City was
authorized to accept title to the Old Mint. There was an extensive
review process under the National Historic Preservation Act. This was a
no cost conveyance of ownership aside from the cost of all the reviews
and proposals and administrative costs of collecting information and
proposals for the future of the Mint. There will be some changes in the
Mint that have been approved and are in compliance with the Secretary
of Interior's Standards for the Rehabilitation and Guidelines for
Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. The city is required to continue to
obtain approval for any further alterations from the State's Historic
Preservation Officer for design and construction processes. The city
obtained an exemption on March 20, 2002 from San Francisco's
Environmental Review Officer stating that the Mint is excempt from
environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
This exemption was due to the fact that the ownership transfer with no
current or specific development proposals posed no physical
environmental project. All the regulations were approved as not being a
threat or problem. Several parties have been given in SF to celebrate
the transfer and to help the San Francisco Museum and Historical
Society raise money to meet each of the milestones and designs plans
required by the new contract. There have been many important figures at
these events including California Supreme Court Judges, Senators, and
Congressional Representatives. We hope that the Museum and Historical
Society can meet each of its deadlines. For the most recent news
updates on the San Francisco Mint from the Museum group please visit
their web site which gives updates on the progress: http://www.sfhistory.org/index.php?pageid=33
Information on the history of the Old Mint can be found at http://www.sfhistory.org/index.php?pageid=32
There is a new coin commemorating teh Old Mint which can be obtained
with the stamp of the new Mint. Please note the Silver Coin Special.
The Pre-issue price of $35.00 will be in effect from 12:00 noon (ET),
on August, 15, 2006, through 5:00 pm (ET), on October 17, 2006, at that
time the regular price of $39.00 will be in effect.
There are two ways to get the coins from the United States Mint
- Call the US Mint office at 1-800-872-6468. Purchase
online at U.S.Mint Catalog.
The San Francisco Old Mint coin is the featured item, and underneath
the description of it, in the middle of the page, is a link "Click here
to see the complete collection." The link will take you to the five
options available.
- To make donations and find more http://www.sfhistory.org/index.php?pageid=28
- new coins from the current mint at U.S.
Mint Government information on the San Francisco Mint.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation keeps this building on
their watch list for endangered buildings.
Articles on the Old Mint and what is happening to it are appearing
regularly in The San Francisco Chronicle.
- Custom House and Post Office in St.
Louis Missouri saved from destruction in the mid 1970s recently
underwent another change. March 15, 2006 the buildig was rededicated
after a $35 million renovation. It is still listed in the GSA website
It houses a number of uses including a downtown campus for Webster
University's Missouri Graduate Programs on the lower floors and the
third and fourth floors now house the Missouri Court of Appeals. The
first floor features a Pasta House Pronto restaurant and is expected to
house the mini-branch of the St Louis Public Library. The St Louis
Business Journal and local office of Teach for America, state offices
of Missouri Attoruney General, Missouri Arts Council and the Department
of Health and Senior Services complete the current occupancy. The
architects of the redesign work were Trivers Associates and the
developer DESCO Group and DFC Group, Inc. See
more details.
- Carson City Mint is now the Nevada
museum... see Carson
City Mint
- U. S. Treasury
Building, Washington DC is being restored currently. The West Wing has
a beautiful circular staircase which for decades could not be properly
viewed due to the addition of an elevator in the space. This elevator
has just been relocated and the beautiful staircase is now visible
again. The funds are not completely available for the total restoration
of this staircase. Efforts are being made to adjust for this but funds
will be needed to make a full restoration of this staircase where the
elevator installation required removal of some original stone and
banister work. You may tour the Treasury building in person or
virtually and find out what is happening to the building at
Treasury.gov at the curator's office. The Treasury Historical
Association is a good source for information about the Treasury
building and all things related to the US Treasury Department. Visit
them at their website
and if you wish, join their members to support historical projects
relating to the Treasury Department.
- Pioneer Post
Office and Court House in Portland, OR
. This building will suffer at the hands of GSA
a "new seismic upgrade"
a hole in one of the walls to make room for a parking lot under the
building for 5 cars. The building is now occupied by only 3 judges who
will take over the building. They were supposed to move the Post Office
out October 31. This date was extended to the end of January 2003. It
was extended again to April 1. By May 2003 the post office moved
out of the building and so did the judges. Everything was moved out of
the building and taken to storage somewhere. Tom Markgraf, of US House
of Representatives from Oregon working in Earl Blumenauer's office gave
assurance that the committee on transportation and infrastructure would
force the GSA to do the renovation on the Old Pioneer PO without the
parking garage and new entrance and without losing the Post Office
space to the judges. The order came from Congress to the GSA in the
Pacific Northwest. GSA's has now closed this
historic treasure from public use. There are no more Post Offices in
that part of downtown Portland. The citizens letters were all
against this move including a letter from the owners of the
original land who said they were opposed to the changes and removal
of the Post Office. In the original Land Grant the owners said that if
there were changes they did not approve in the use, they wanted to have
the land revert back to them.. There have been empty offices in this
structure and recommendations from the public have come in for its more
complete usage. We heard that there will be limited tours of the
building and limited access by the public after the renovation. Please
contact Regional Historic Preservation Officer US General Services
Administration, 400 15th Street, SW, Auburn, WA 98001. phone
253-931-7865 fax 253-931-7251. Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation mentions
this issue on their website but has not any news since 2002. More
on this controversey is at the communique
for Portland Oregon. The completion of the work will include the
installation of a parking garage for judges under the building and the
courts and include a museum.
- Custom
House in Portland, ME , has a notice at Portland
landmarks web
site bulding number 12 and is on the resort cam picture website.
At the GSA website
is a statement of significance and when it came into control of
GSA
- The National Council of Negro Women,
Inc., Washington,
DC (This used to be the Apex Liquor Store, then Sears House, and
originally a bank.)
- U. S. Custom House in Port Huron, MI
was restored beautifully almost fifteen years ago and has multi-use
activity under GSA control. On our last visit it was one of the best
used and best maintained of Government buildings. At the
GSA website for historic buildings you can find the background
missing and all that is available is the liting that it is still a
federal building and Custom House in Port Huron designed by Mullett and
construction completed in 1877.
- The Old Executive Office Building now
the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, should have been named after
Hamilton Fish, the Secretary of State who insisted that the building
have its present location and design. more... Outside
our site take a tour of the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building, formerly Old State, War, and Navy
Building. This link takes you to the web site tour information of this
historic building. This is also listed in the GSA website
of historic buildings. It used to be possible to tour this building but
it is now undergoing a major renovation, currently the west wing, and
will probably be unavailable for public tours until 2010 at the present
estimates. This could change but this is the latest information from
the curator.
There are links to other sites with buildings by A. B. Mullett.
These
pages do not have return links so use back button on browser to return
or
bookmark this page to return.
- Information on Arthur G. Dove
as known by Suzanne Mullett Smith
- Spider Woman
Stories currently in its 9th edition, this best seller is published
in agreement with University of Arizona Press. These are Hopi tales
collected at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century by Dr. Fewkes of
the Smithsonian nstitution, Bureau of Ethnology where George Alice
Mills Crawford Merrick Mullett was employed as an illustrator of items
taken from the digs in Arizona. Dr. Fewkes was the first white man to
be initiated into one of the Hopi Kivas. The older Hopi clansmen said
they wished to have the stories preserved because the young were not
interested. Dr. Fewkes wanted the stories published with illustrations
by Mrs. Mullett in color but just before the publication was to begin,
the depression hit and funds were not available. The original agreement
with University of Arizona was to have these works published with the
illustrations. Various interferences prevented this. The earlier
editions came out with some of the illustrations on the back book
jacket and on the inside cover pages.
Mullett-Smith Press
1315 4th Street, SW, TH-7
Washington, DC 20024
contact us: mspress@mullett-smithpress.com
An interesting link to the work of a grand nephew of A.B. Mulett Fred B. Mullett
Fred is
an artist.
updated 9/6/2006