Originally known as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, the Mills Building, South Carolina State Hospital is a historic venue in Columbia, South Carolina. The building was constructed in 1822 and despite not having mentally ill patients since the year 1937, it is still deemed as the oldest building in the US to be continuously used as a mental institution.

One of the first mental asylums to have ever been built using public funds, the Mills Building, South Carolina State Hospital is named after the building’s designer, Robert Mills. Mills is a well known architect of his time, around the early years of the 1800s, allowing him to build a good name and reputation for himself.

Still used as a medical facility, the Mills Building, South Carolina State Hospital was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1973.