Mills House No. 1 at 160 Bleecker Street in New York City was designed by architect Ernest Flagg in the 1890s as a men's hotel.
Built as a hostel for poor gentlemen, this block-wide building was constructed on the site previously occupied by Depau Row. Mills House originally contained 1,500 tiny rooms available at affordable rates and is one of two survivors of three men's hotels built by Darius Ogden Mills, a banker, in New York City. Mills House No. 2, which contained 600 small rooms for homeless men, was located on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side. Mills House No. 3 still stands at 485 Seventh Avenue, at the northeast corner of 36th Street.
Mills House hotels were closed during the day to encourage its residents to seek work. The hotel was built in accordance with the 1879 Tenement House Law known as the 'Old Law.' With two 60-square-foot (5.6 m2) airshafts penetrating a structure that occupies four city lots, this building exemplifies Flagg's main proposals for changes in the zoning laws.
A major lobbyist for housing reform, Flagg might have been inspired by the layout of The Dakota (1884), or by the apartment buildings he had seen in Paris during his studies abroad.
In 1902, Jacob A. Riis included the Mills Houses in his book The Battle with the Slum.
In the mid 1970s, the building was gut-renovated and renamed The Atrium. Today it has 189 luxury cooperative apartments and furnished suites available for short term rental. The building retains its two 10-story interior airshafts that are covered with skylights; hence the name, "The Atrium". The legendary jazz club The Village Gate also was located in this building for over 28 years. Currently it is a CVS Pharmacy with (Le) Poisson Rouge located below.
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