Rufus M. Rose House facts for kids
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Rufus M. Rose House
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Rufus M. Rose House on Peachtree Street
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 Location in Atlanta
Location in Georgia (U.S. state)
Location in the United States
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| Location | 537 Peachtree St., Atlanta, Georgia |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1901 |
| Architect | Emil Charles Seiz |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian/Queen Anne |
| NRHP reference No. | 77000433 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | September 20, 1977 |
The Rufus M. Rose House is a beautiful old house in Atlanta, Georgia. It was built in 1901 for Dr. Rufus Mathewson Rose. The house is located in the SoNo area of Atlanta, on a street called Peachtree Street. It was designed by an architect named Emil Charles Seiz. He designed many buildings in Atlanta.
Contents
What Makes the House Special?
This house is a very rare example of a large home built in the 1800s for a wealthy family in Atlanta. It is made of red brick. The house has many different window shapes and sizes. It also has several gabled sections and bay windows that stick out.
The house used to have a slate roof and a front porch. These parts are now gone. There are carved marble steps that led from the sidewalk right up to the front porch. The small yard around the house is one of the last remaining yards from when Peachtree Street was full of grand homes.
Who Was Dr. Rufus Rose?
The Rufus M. Rose House was built in 1901. It cost $9,000 to build, which was a lot of money back then! The house is about 5,200 square feet in size.
Dr. Rufus M. Rose was a very interesting person. He used to be a druggist and a doctor during the Civil War. After the war, he moved to Atlanta in 1867. He started a distillery company called R. M. Rose Co. Distillery. It was located in Vinings, Georgia. Dr. Rose also owned a large business that bought and sold land. His family lived in this house until 1921.
What Happened to the House Over Time?
After the Rose family sold the house in 1923, it was used for many different things. For a while, it was a private home. Then, it became a place where people could rent rooms, like a rooming house. It was also used as offices for the Fulton County Relief Administration. Then, it became a private home again.
In 1945, a man named James H. Elliot, Sr., bought the house. He turned it into an antique store and a museum. He called it J.H. Elliot's Antiques and the Atlanta Museum. Anyone could visit the museum. It had many cool things inside! Some items included furniture from Margaret Mitchell, who wrote Gone With the Wind. There were also items from famous golfer Bobby Jones. Even the throne of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was there! The museum also had a Japanese Zero war plane. The store and museum stayed open for over 50 years, closing in 1998.
From 1999 to 2001, the house was the main office for the Atlanta Preservation Center. This group works to save old buildings in Atlanta. They later moved to another historic mansion in Grant Park.
Protecting the House
The Rufus M. Rose House is a very important building. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it is recognized as a special historic place in the United States. The City of Atlanta has also named it a Landmark Building Exterior.
Even with these protections, the house is currently empty and in danger. It needs care because it has been neglected. The house was last sold in 2011 at an auction.
Images for kids
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Front foyer
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Aerial view of Rufus M. Rose House. The house is almost in the center of the photo with blue tarps hanging off its roof - just down and to the left of the orange taxi. Emory University Hospital Midtown is to the right. Photo taken from Bank of America Plaza.
