Robert Mills House | |
Location | 1616 Blanding St., Columbia, South Carolina |
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Coordinates | 34°0′34″N81°1′45″W / 34.00944°N 81.02917°W Coordinates: 34°0′34″N81°1′45″W / 34.00944°N 81.02917°W |
Area | 4 acres (1.6 ha) |
Built | 1823 |
Architect | Robert Mills |
Architectural style | Early Republic, Federal |
Part of | Columbia Historic District II (ID71000799) |
NRHP reference No. | 70000595 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | July 16, 1970 [1] |
Designated NHL | November 7, 1973 [2] |
Designated CP | May 6, 1971 |
The Robert Mills House, also known as Robert Mills Historic House and Park or the Ainsley Hall House, is a historic house museum at 1616 Blanding Street in Columbia, South Carolina. Built in 1823 to a design by Robert Mills, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973 for its architectural significance. [3] [4] The Historic Columbia Foundation owns and operates the home, which has been furnished with decorative arts of the early 19th century, including American Federal, English Regency, and French Empire pieces.
The Robert Mills House is located in a parklike 4-acre (1.6 ha) parcel that occupies an entire city block in central Columbia. It is a two-story masonry structure, built out of brick set on a high basement with arcaded walls. Its main facade faces north, with a Classical projecting portico that has four Ionic columns supporting a gabled pediment. The main entrance is topped by a fanlight window, and the windows in the flanking bays are set in round-arch openings, a Mills design hallmark. The building's entrance hall is symmetrical, with the stairwell concealed behind a doorway that is matched by a false doorway on the opposite wall. The hall has curved ends, as do the matching parlors, providing an illusion of increased space. [3]
The house was designed by Mills and built in 1823 for Ainsley Hall, who died before it was finished. It was for many years part of the campus of the Columbia Theological Seminary, [3] which moved out of Columbia in 1960. With the property threatened with development, it was acquired by Historic Columbia and restored, opening as a museum in 1967.
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Robert Mills was a South Carolina architect known for designing both the first Washington Monument, located in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as the better known monument to the first president in the nation's capital, Washington, DC. He is sometimes said to be the first native-born American to be professionally trained as an architect. Charles Bulfinch of Boston perhaps has a clearer claim to this honor.
The Kingstree Historic District contains forty-eight properties situated along Main Street, Academy Street, and Hampton Street in the commercial area of downtown Kingstree, South Carolina. The district includes the courthouse, public library, railroad station, and numerous commercial buildings. The district is a fine collection of nineteenth-century vernacular commercial architecture. Details such as arched doorways and windows, cast-iron columns and pilasters, decorative or corbelled brickwork and pressed tin interior ceilings are present on most of the district's buildings. The Williamsburg County Courthouse, built ca. 1823, and designed by Robert Mills, is a fine example of Roman neoclassical design with its raised first floor, pediment with lunette, and Doric columns. In 1953-54 the courthouse underwent substantial remodeling on the exterior and interior, though it still reflects much of Mill's original design. With the exception of the courthouse, most of the buildings in the district were built between 1900 and 1920 when Kingstree enjoyed prosperity as a retail and tobacco marketing center of Williamsburg County. The majority of the buildings in the district are a visible record of this twenty-year growth and the historic fabric of the area remains substantially intact. The Kingstree Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places June 28, 1982.
The William Blacklock House is a historic house at 18 Bull Street in Charleston, South Carolina. A National Historic Landmark, this brick house, built in 1800 for a wealthy merchant, is one of the nation's finest examples of Adamesque architecture. It is now owned by the College of Charleston, housing its Office of Alumni Relations.
The William Gibbes House is a historic house at 64 South Battery in Charleston, South Carolina. Built about 1772, it is one of the nation's finest examples of classical Georgian architecture. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
The Old Campus District, University of South Carolina, is a historic district centered on The Horseshoe on the main campus of the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. On June 5, 1970, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. On April 19, 1996 MTV Unplugged filmed Hootie & the Blowfish's concert on The Horseshoe before the release of their second album Fairweather Johnson.
Bethesda Presbyterian Church is a historic church at 502 DeKalb Street in Camden, South Carolina. A National Historic Landmark, the main church building was built in 1822 and is one of few surviving churches designed by 19th-century American architect Robert Mills. The current minister is Rev. Jim Davis.
The Lancaster County Jail is a historic former jail building at 208 West Gay Street. Built in 1823, it is a virtually unaltered work of the noted early American architect Robert Mills, and reflects innovative changes in jail design promoted by him. It is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
The James Petigru Boyce Chapel is a historic church building at 1306 Hampton Street in Columbia, South Carolina. It is a Greek Revival building built in 1859. A convention met here on December 17, 1860, whose delegates voted unanimously for South Carolina to secede from the United States, leading to the American Civil War. It was designated a National Historic Landmark as First Baptist Church, the role it played at the time. The building is part of the facilities complex of the First Baptist Church, Columbia- a Southern Baptist megachurch.
Lancaster County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Lancaster, South Carolina. Built in 1828, it has been in continuous use since then. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973, as a possible work of Robert Mills, an important American architect of the first half of the 19th century. It also has the distinction of being the site of the last witch trials to take place in the United States.
The Chappelle Administration Building, on the campus of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, was designed by John Anderson Lankford, known as the "dean of black architects." The building name has been spelled Chapelle Administration Building in HABS and NPS reports. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976, cited as one Lankford's most important works.
The Joseph Manigault House is a historic house museum in Charleston, South Carolina that is owned and operated by the Charleston Museum. Built in 1803, it was designed by Gabriel Manigault to be the home of his brother, and is nationally significant as a well-executed and preserved example of Adam style architecture. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
The South Carolina State Hospital is a publicly funded state-run psychiatric hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1821 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, it was one of the first public mental hospitals established in the United States. The Mills Building, its first building, was designed by early American architect Robert Mills, and is a National Historic Landmark. The hospital had more than 1,000 patients in 1900, but with the transition of mental health facilities to community settings, it is now much smaller, occupying a small portion of its campus, with other parts housing offices and facilities of the state's Department of Mental Health.
The Hampton–Preston House located at 1615 Blanding Street in Columbia, South Carolina, is a historic mansion that was the home of members of the prominent Hampton family. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 29, 1969.
The Greyhound Bus Depot is a former Greyhound Lines intercity bus station in Columbia, South Carolina. It is at 1200 Blanding Street in downtown Columbia. The depot was named to the National Register of Historic Places on December 28, 1989. After the bus terminal was closed, the building became a bank. Currently, it is a physician's office.
World War Memorial Building is a building designed by Lafaye & Lafaye in Columbia, South Carolina, United States.
Horry-Guignard House is a historic home located at Columbia, South Carolina. It was built before 1813, and is a two-story, late Federal style, modified I-house type frame dwelling. The front facade features a one-story, full-width balustraded porch supported by square columns. During the winter of 1813–1814, the main hall was widened from six feet to eleven feet. To do this, the house was sawed in half and the two ends were pulled apart to rest on two new foundations. It was probably built by Peter Horry (1747-1815), a Revolutionary War Colonel and Brigadier General of the South Carolina Militia. Later, the house was acquired by John Gabriel Guignard (1751-1822), the Surveyor General of South Carolina from 1798 to 1802. Guignard is responsible for the early design of the city and laid out the first streets of Columbia.
Moore-Mann House is a historic home located at Columbia, South Carolina. It built about 1903, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, irregular plan, Queen Anne style frame dwelling. It features a one-story verandah, bay windows, decorative shingles and an arched entrance. It was designed by W. B. Smith Whaley, Co., a prominent Columbia architectural and engineering firm, whose owner also built the W. B. Smith Whaley House.
Lyles-Gudmundson House is a historic landmark home located in Columbia, South Carolina. It was built between 1918 and 1922, and is a two-story Classical Revival style brick dwelling. The home was a wedding gift for Evelyn Robertson Lyles, the daughter of Edwin Wales Robertson. A banker who is credited with much of Columbia's early twentieth century development, Robertson commissioned New York City architect James Brite to design his daughter's home as part of his Wales Garden neighborhood. Brite - a native North Carolinian who died in 1942 - was also the architect of The Braes in Glen Cove, New York and the famous Darlington Mansion near Mahwah, New Jersey.
Columbia Historic District II is a national historic district located at Columbia, South Carolina. The district encompasses 113 contributing buildings and 1 contributing site in a former residential section of Columbia. They were built between the early-19th century and the 1930s and are now mostly used for commercial purposes. The buildings are in the Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Classical Revival, and the “Columbia Cottage” styles. Notable buildings include the Robert Mills House, Debruhl-Marshall House, Hampton-Preston House, Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Crawford-Clarkson House, Maxcy Gregg House, Hale-Elmore-Seibels House, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, and Ebenezer Lutheran Church.