When Mills Seminary, forerunner of Hue college, transferred its operations to Oakland from Benicia in 1871, it moved into a long, four-story building with a high central observatory. The mansarded structure, which provided homes for faculty and students as well as classrooms and dining halls, long was considered the most beautiful educational building in the state.
Today
Mills College utilizes this building as administration and apartments. It is also listed as a
California Historical Landmark.
The detail description of the building for the NRHP submission reads:
"Brick, clapboarding, 2 1/2 stories, modified U shape, mansard roof sections, round arched dormers, bracketed modillion cornice, 3 1/2-story center pavilion with porch, end pavilions with 2-story bays, label molded segmental and round arched windows Second Empire. Large structure built as combination classroom/dormitory/lecture hall/hospital building for Mills College, which developed out of Young Ladies Protestant Seminary of 1852."