Millais House, Millbank Estate

This is a block of flats forming part of the Millbank Estate, built in 1899-1900 as one of the first two buildings on this important London County Council housing estate. The estate was designed by the Architects' Department under Owen Fleming, with R. Minton Taylor likely responsible for the layout radiating from a central rectangular public garden. Constructed of red brick with stone dressings and tiled roofs, the design reflects a humane, Arts and Crafts socialist approach, inspired by the work of Webb, Lethaby, and Smith and Brewer, incorporating elements of Queen Anne and Northern European styles, all to a high standard.

The building has an angled, slightly asymmetrical, butterfly plan, set at right angles to John Islip Street, with elevations facing a courtyard and south towards Bulinga Street, and splaying towards Herrick Street. It comprises five-storey gabled end pavilions and a four-storey and attic engaged faceted-pyramid-roof tower situated between them. The end pavilions are two windows wide, with the one facing John Islip Street featuring a shallow angled bay with small secondary lights. The central links are four windows wide, and the tower has three windows. Cornice-hooded entrances are found on the courtyard elevation. The window arrangement varies to reflect the interior layout, with segmental arched flush framed glazing bar casements. Stone dressed windows are present on the ground floor of the tower and in the end pavilions. Two oculi flank the ground floor of the tower. Grouped dormers are positioned above the overhanging eaves. The block is designed to balance with its twin, Leighton House, located south of the garden.