Quincy Mine Office (Quincy Pay Office)

The General Office is a curious building, conceived as a simple colonial domestic block with a hipped roof and pedimented pavilion. In keeping with this conception, the porch is supported by a classical order. The construction, however, is heavy rock-faced masonry, from the basement through the tall chimneys, and the windows on the first floor are topped by bold Richardsonian arches. In the end, it is the late-nineteenth-century tone that prevails. The office was designed by Walsh, an architect in Morristown, New Jersey, and neighbor of William R. Todd, who was treasurer of the Quincy. The fact that Walsh may never have seen the site or the native sandstone with which the office was constructed may account for some of the contradictions in the building, although the rough texture and large arches must have been specified by him. Local people equated the fine Portage Entry red sandstone office with the abilities of the clerical officers of “the world's richest mine.”

Today National Park Service employees share office space here with private sector enterprises.