John Donald Mills was born in Dundee, Scotland on 12 January 1872 and was articled to Charles Ower, Junior (c.1849-1929) and Leslie Ower (1851-1916) of of C. & L. Ower from 1888 to 1891. He also attended University College, Dundee and the Technical School in Dundee. From 1896 to 1898 he worked as an assistant to William Larner Sugden (1850-1901) in Leek.
Mills commenced independent practice in Tayport in 1899. The following year he formed the partnership J. D. Mills & G. D. B. Shepherd, [also known as Mills & Shepherd] with Godfrey Daniel Bower Shepherd (1874-1937) in Dundee. The firm was active for the next six decades. Shepherd died on 21 December 1937, and William M Guild was taken into partnership. Following Mills' death in 1958, Guild continued to run the firm alone, but kept the original practice title. He closed the Dundee office in 1966 and thereafter ran it from his home in Cupar.
Mills was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1906. He died in St. Andrews, Scotland on 26 January 1958.
The Fleming Gymnasium and Fives Courts; also the Peters Laboratory, for University Coll., Dundee; University Hall (residential buildings) for St. Andrews University. Domestic work: Glenmarkle Shooting Lodge; Dalbeathie, Dunkeld; Ardvreck, Dundee; Belsize, Broughty Ferry; the White House, Howbury, west House, and Priory Acres — all at St. Andrews; Convalescent Home, St. Andrews. Churches Holy Trinity, Monifieth; restoration of Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Dundee [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
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Country houses in Forfarshire, Dunkeld, and Glenalmond, and several others at St. Andrews; the Peters Laboratory (Physics) and other buildings for Univ. Coll., Dundee; dining hall and extensions. University (residential) Hall, for the Univ. of St. Andrews 1911; restoration work at St. Salvator's College Chapel, St. Andrews, 1923; War memorials for University College, Dundee, and at Tayport, etc.; extensions, Trinity College, Glenalmond, 1925: extensions (chemistry and physics buildings), St. Andrew's University, 1925; country house restorations and extensions, Auchter House, 1924, and Fingask Castle, 1925. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
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See also Dictionary of Scottish Architects 1660-1980 [link below]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
'Obituary'. The Builder vol. 194, 7 February 1958 p. 194
'Obituary'. The Royal Institute of British Architects Journal vol. 66, December 1958 p. 69
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The architectural Press, 1926