George S. Mills
George S. Mills, circa 1915
Born(1866-12-05)December 5, 1866
London, England
DiedDecember 27, 1939(1939-12-27) (aged 73)
Toledo, Ohio
NationalityAmerican
OccupationArchitect
The Neely–Sieber House in Lima, Ohio, designed by Mills and built in 1904.
The Ohio Building in Toledo, completed in 1907.
Hale Hall of the Ohio State University, completed in 1911.

George S. Mills FAIA (1866–1939) was an English-born American architect in practice in Toledo, Ohio from 1892 until 1939. He was cofounder of a successful architectural firm which operated until 1999.

Life and career

George Strafford Mills was born December 5, 1866, in London to George Mills, a journalist, and Mary Huxley (Callow) Mills. In 1870 the family immigrated to the United States, settling in St. Louis. Mills was educated in the St. Louis public schools and in the manual training school of Washington University, graduating in 1884. He then joined the office of leading local architect George I. Barnett before moving to Toledo in 1885. There he was hired to teach mechanical drawing in the Toledo Manual Training School, now the University of Toledo, becoming superintendent of the school in 1887. In 1892 he left to enter private practice, forming a partnership with Harry W. Wachter which lasted until 1897.[1] After dissolving their partnership Mills worked for fifteen years as an independent practitioner, becoming the leading architect in Toledo.[2] In 1907 Mills completed the Ohio Building, one of the largest office buildings in the city, and moved his offices into it.[1]

In 1912 Mills formed a partnership with three of his employees, George V. Rhines, Lawrence S. Bellman and Charles M. Nordhoff, in the new firm of Mills, Rhines, Bellman & Nordhoff. The firm was incorporated in 1929.[3] From their base in Toledo this firm was responsible for buildings as far east as Boston and as far west as San Francisco.[4] In 1944, following the deaths of his partners, Bellman assumed control of the firm, renaming it Bellman, Gillett & Richards. The firm was later known as Richards, Bauer & Moorhead under John N. Richards and as Bauer, Stark & Lashbrook under Orville H. Bauer before closing in 1999.[5] Works of these successor firms, in association with others, include the Front Street office buildings in Columbus and the former Fiberglas Tower, once the tallest building in Toledo.

Mills joined the American Institute of Architects in 1900 and was elected a Fellow in 1915. In 1914 Mills was instrumental in the formation of the Toledo chapter, and served as its secretary.[2] From 1918 to 1919 he served a single term as second vice president of the national organization.[6]

Personal life

Mills was married in 1895 to Alice Baker, a Toledo native. She died in 1913, and he remarried to Stella Peterson. He had two daughters, both with his first wife. He later remarried to Stella Peterson. An Anglican, Mills was a parishioner of Trinity Episcopal Church. Mills died December 27, 1939, in Toledo at the age of 73.[1][3] He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.[4]

Legacy

Several buildings designed by Mills and his firm have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and others contribute to listed historic districts.[7]

Architectural works

See Mills, Rhines, Bellman & Nordhoff for works after 1912.

Drawings and contemporary views

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George S. Mills.
  1. 1 2 3 "George Strafford Mills" in Memoirs of Lucas County and the City of Toledo 2, ed. Harvey Scribner (Madison: Western Historical Association, 1910): 211-212.
  2. 1 2 Proceedings of the Forty-ninth Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects (Washington: American Institute of Architects, 1915): 40-41.
  3. 1 2 "George Mills" in Weekly Bulletin of the Michigan Society of Architects 14, no. 2 (January 9, 1940): 6.
  4. 1 2 "George Stratford Mills". Woodlawn Cemetery & Arboretum. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  5. ↑ Mark Zaborney, "Charles H. Stark III, 1935-2012: Architect designed Valentine's restoration," The Blade, March 15, 2012. Accessed December 31, 2022.
  6. ↑ American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1962)
  7. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
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