Rhodes Hall
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| (National Register of Historic Places) | |
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| Location: | Atlanta |
| Built/Founded: | 1904 |
| Added to NRHP: | 1974 |
| Governing body: | National Register of Historic Places |
- For the research building at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, see Cornell Theory Center.
Rhodes Memorial Hall was built as the home of furniture magnate Amos Giles Rhodes.
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[edit] Inspiration
The c. 1904 Romanesque Revival building was inspired by the Rhineland castles that Rhodes admired on a trip to Europe in the late 1890s. Architect Willis F. Denny II designed the unique home, incoprorating medieval Romanesque and Victorian designs as well as necessary adaptations for an early 20th-century home.
[edit] Victorian architecture
Known as La Rêve or "The Dream," Rhodes Hall is one of the finest intact expressions of late Victorian architectural design in Atlanta. The grandest feature of the interior is a magnificent series of stained and painted glass windows that rise above a carved mahogany staircase. The three-panel series depicts the rise and fall of the Confederacy from Fort Sumter to Appomattox, and includes medallion portraits of over a dozen Confederate heroes.
[edit] Features of house
The house cost Rhodes $50,000 to build in 1904. Wired for electricity when it was built, Rhodes Hall is a prime example of the fascination that new technology held for Atlantans at the turn of the century. Over 360 light bulbs light the entire house. The house also had electric call buttons in most rooms as well as a security system.[1] Among the materials used to build the home, the mahogany was from the West Indies and the exterior granite was brought over in 500-pound blocks in wagons from Stone Mountain, located about 24 miles east of Atlanta.
Although Rhodes Hall is now surrounded by commercial buildings and heavy traffic, it has survived damage due to careful historic preservation and restoration efforts. After the death of Rhodes and his wife, their children deeded the house to the State of Georgia, with a restriction that it be used for "historic purposes." Today, the home is used as a house museum and the offices of The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
