Profile
Robert S. Mills, FAIA, CID, NCARB
Robert Mills is a licensed architect and certified interior designer and was one of the founding principals/owners of Richmond, Virginia-based Commonwealth Architects before his retirement in 2015. With more than 37 years of professional experience, he has been involved in all aspects of practice, most specifically in the areas of architecture, historic architecture, interior architecture, planning and management. Throughout his career, Bob has provided a full range of design services to a wide variety of corporate, governmental and commercial clients. He has served on various boards of professional and civic organizations, including serving as the Chairman of the City of Richmond’s Planning Commission during the recent update of the Downtown Master Plan. Bob was appointed by Governor McAuliffe in 2014 to serve on the State’s Art and Architectural Review Board and currently is its Chair. He has lectured on architectural and urban planning issues, including historic investment tax credit utilization and urban revitalization. Mills has been at the forefront of forming partnerships between developers and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to encourage the use of historic investment tax credits to rehabilitate significant historic properties, thereby helping to revitalize neighborhoods and urban centers.
His commitment to the rehabilitation of existing structures across the region is a hallmark of his professional services.
Commonwealth Architects, with Robert Mills as president, was awarded the Virginia Society AIA’s T. David Fitz-Gibbon Architecture Firm Award in 2011, the highest award given to a firm by the Virginia organization. The award underscored the contributions of rehabilitation and compatible infill design as a catalyst for revitalizing livable communities.
In 2015, Bob was made a Fellow by the American Institute of Architects.