Robert Mills and Elizabeth ("Eliza") Barnwell Smith Mills

After a distinguished architectural career in South Carolina, Robert Mills came to Washington, where he was appointed in 1836 by President Andrew Jackson to supervise construction of the Patent Office Building (now the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture). Although the plan chosen for the building's exterior was that of architect William P. Elliot, Mills designed the interiors of the south and east wings, including the great vaulted exhibition halls on the building's top floor. Mills's other distinguished commissions in Washington included the Treasury Building, the Washington Monument, and the former General Post Office on F Street.