Mills, Robert (1781–1855). American architect, a protégé of Jefferson, he worked with Hoban and assisted Latrobe on the Capitol, Washington, DC (1803–8). After Latrobe sent him to Philadelphia to oversee the building of some houses and the Bank of Philadelphia in 1807–8, Mills set up his own practice there. Washington Hall, Philadelphia (1809–16), was in a severe Neo-Classical style worthy of Ledoux, while the circular Sansom Street Baptist Church (1811–12) and Octagon Unitarian Church (1812–13) drew on an eclectic collection of sources. At the Monumental Church, Richmond, VA (1812–17), there was a centralized octagonal plan with a massive porch featuring distyle in antis (see anta) unfluted Greek Doric columns based on those of the temple of Apollo at Delos, a robust design worthy of Latrobe. This Doric Order was again used for the Washington Monument, Baltimore, MD (1814–42), where he designed many buildings.

Mills is best known for his monumental architecture in Washington, DC. These include the vast obelisk of the Washington National Monument (1833–84), the great stoa-fronted Ionic Treasury Building (1836–42), the Doric Patent Office Building (1836–40—now the National Portrait Gallery), and the Corinthian Old Post Office (1839–42). It is clear he was a competent Greek Revivalist. One of his best buildings was the Lunatic Asylum, Columbia, SC (1821–7), in the Greek Doric style with south-facing wards and a complete absence of the forbidding severity usually associated with such institutions. He designed several customs-houses and was a pioneer of fire-resistant construction.

Bibliography

Bryan (1976);
Gallagher (1935);
Hamlin (1964);
Hitchcock (1977);
Pierson & and Jordy (1970–86);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
Jane Turner (1996);
Whiffen & and Koeper (1983);
Windsor-Liscombe (1985, 1994)