Mills, Robert | South Carolina Public Radio

"M" is for Mills, Robert (1781-1855). Architect, engineer, author. A native of Charleston, Mills studied architecture with James Hoban, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Latrobe. Settling in Philadelphia and later Baltimore, his designs for churches and public buildings won him acclaim. In 1820, he returned to South Carolina where he is remembered for designing sixteen courthouses, twelve jails, and the Fireproof Building in Charleston. While in South Carolina, he published an Atlas of South Carolina and Statistics of South Carolina. In 1830, Mills moved to Washington, D.C., where he spent the remainder of his career. There he received a number of federal commissions for U.S. customs houses, the new Treasury Building, and the Patent Office. Robert Mills is best remembered for designing what is now one of the iconic structures in our nation’s capital—the Washington Monument.