Name/Title
"Mills Building"Entry/Object ID
2006.9.1Description
Canvas painting of the South Carolina State Mental Hospital (referred to as the Mills Building) in a wooden frame.Type of Painting
EaselArtwork Details
Subject
Mills Building at the South Carolina State Mental HospitalContext
The Mills Building, located at 2100 Bull Street, was the first of many structures that made up the South Carolina State Hospital complex. Designed by Robert Mills (1781–1855), this fireproof building was constructed between 1822 and 1827 and is now recognized as a National Historic Landmark.
Located in the Bull Street District, the South Carolina State Hospital was a publicly funded mental health hospital in Columbia. Originally known as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, the hospital was founded in 1821 as the second psychiatric hospital in the United States. Upon its completion, the Mills Building served as the primary structure until the campus grew to include additional facilities, such as the segregated Babcock and Parker buildings.
Initially the asylum was only open to paying clients, the majority of whom were white citizens. In 1828, it cost a minimum of $3 a week for board and medical care, which, with inflation, was roughly equivalent to $102 in 2024. As state funding increased, the hospital began "treating" ailments outside of mental affliction. This included individuals considered societal burdens, such as those living in poverty, those struggling with substance abuse, and women perceived to deviate from moral or gender norms.
In keeping with Robert Mills’ initial design, white women were housed in the east wing of the Mills building, and white men lived in the west wing. Beginning in 1848, enslaved people were allowed admittance to the hospital after the General Assembly passed "An Act to Provide for Admission of Persons of Color into the Lunatic Asylum." However, Black patients were relegated to wooden outbuildings for decades before the Parker Building opened to Black patients around 1897.
By the early 1900s, the Babcock and Mills buildings housed over 1,000 patients. In the following decades, the patient buildings deteriorated and methodologies for treating mental illness evolved, leading the hospital to cease patient care in 1989. It was officially abandoned in 1996.
A post factum inscription on the reverse of the canvas suggests that the painting was completed around 1857—not long after another depiction of the campus was produced by Columbia-based artist Eugene Dovilliers (1818–1887) and published in the asylum's annual report. However, the bicyclist and a couple dressed in more contemporary garb, which were revealed during recent conservation efforts, support a later attribution.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
G.M.FAttribution
Attributed toDate made
circa 1900Place
City
Columbia, South CarolinaInscription/Signature/Marks
Type
InscriptionLocation
Reverse lower right cornerTranscription
Mills BLDG
Completed [illegible and crossed out] 1827
scene about c-1857
Painted by artist
likely intended to be read:
Mills BLDG
Completed 1827
Scene painted by artist about c. 1857Type
LabelLocation
FrameTranscription
ITEM #130
Painting-
Mills Building
Artist G.M.F.Dimensions
Width
32-3/4 inLength
23-3/4 in
