Mills Building

The Mills Building is a warehouse and factory built in 1906, designed by GS Doughty of Nottingham for Philo L Mills. It is constructed of red brick with concrete and terracotta dressings. The main block is four storeys high, with nine windows. It features a plinth, first-floor and eaves cornices. The ground floor has an entrance bay to the right with a Baroque Revival style doorcase, including a round-arched doorway with a keystone, flanked by rusticated columns supporting a segmental broken pediment. To the left of this is a round-arched cart entrance with Art Nouveau wrought-iron gates, followed by a round-arched doorway flanked by rusticated pilasters, and then five windows. A similar doorway with a segmental hood on brackets concludes the ground floor. The first floor includes a Venetian window with voussoirs, flanked to the left by a loading door, and then seven windows. Upper floors have regular sash windows, with a tripartite window to the right, and eight windows to the left. A slightly projecting four-storey block with a basement, and seven window range, incorporates a simpler version of the same architectural style, with similar windows on each floor, two of which have been altered, and a plain parapet. The rear elevation, facing Plumptre Street, is constructed with white glazed brick, a blue brick plinth, and ashlar dressings, complemented by Art Nouveau ironwork. The rear elevation includes sill bands to each floor, an eaves cornice, a wrought-iron balustrade railing with glazed brick pedestals and ball finials, and is three storeys high with a basement and a six-window range. The ground floor features a segment-arched cart opening with a keystone and Art Nouveau wrought-iron gates, and four windows. The upper floors have regular fenestration. The building’s construction is documented in the Nottingham Industrial Archaeological Society Journal and The Buildings of England.