A prominent Toledo architect with a national reputation, Mills designed the Berdan Building, the Commodore Perry Hotel, the Ohio Bank Building, the Secor Hotel, Burt's Theatre, the Toledo Club and The Toledo Safety Building. He also worked on projects all over the country and served as vice president of the American Institute of Architects from 1918-1919.

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Born in London, England in 1866, Mills came to the USA in his youth and attended public schools in St. Louis, Missouri followed by Washington University of St. Louis's manual training school, graduating in 1884. He moved to Toledo and taught mechanical drawing from 1885 to 1892, during which time he became superintendent of the Scott Manual Training School. He then partnered in the architecture firm Mills & Wachter from 1892 to 1897, then worked as an individual architect for 15 more years. In 1912 he became head partner of the firm Mills, Rhines, Bellman & Nordhoff