Wanted: Buyer for long-vacant historic downtown mansion

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Now, the downtown house is at the center of a publicity push to find a new owner who can bring the historic mansion back to life. The property is listed for $2.58 million but has sat on the market since November.

“We’re making a great push in the next 30 to 60 days to get it some serious negotiations and get it under contract,” said Felicia Moore, the listing agent and a former Atlanta City Council president. That includes an offer for seller financing of up to 80% for 20 years, she said.

Moore, as a selling point, talked about potential of the surrounding area. The Rufus M. Rose House sits at 537 Peachtree St. across from Emory University Hospital Midtown, in the shadow of the Bank of America Plaza and just blocks from a proposed project called the Stitch.

The Stitch aims to cap the Downtown Connector with an elevated park, but the ambitious project has run into hurdles and last year lost $151 million in federal funding. Still, Atlanta leaders earlier this year formed a nonprofit board, vowing to start construction next year.

“All of this area in the next 10 years is going to be a whole lot different than what we see today,” Moore said, adding she believes an investment in the Rufus M. Rose House could see a large return. “This will be, I think, a focal point of the community.”

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

A rare reminder of the past

The Rufus M. Rose House was built 125 years ago, a rare reminder of the stately mansions that once lined Peachtree before cars became commonplace.

Over the past century, only a handful of residential properties from that era have been saved, such as Rhodes Hall and the Wimbish House, both in Midtown.

The Rufus M. Rose House has historic protections that prohibit it from being demolished or the exterior significantly changed. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and designated as a landmark building by the city of Atlanta in 1989.

Today, the interior of the mansion sits stripped down to the studs. What remains inside are original windows, multiple fireplaces and impressive woodwork, including a carved staircase.

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

A renovation project, though, could be expensive, with Moore estimating a cost of around $3 million.

A potential buyer likely would be need to driven by a desire to save a piece of Atlanta history, not turn a quick profit, local preservationists said.

“Historic preservation is hard,” said David Mitchell, executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center. “You’ve got to have someone with the right mindset and stamina to take this project on.”

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

The house has had multiple owners over the past 15 years, including Gholam Bakhtiari, the father of Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari, who said in a 2015 interview they envisioned an “arts space and entrepreneurial startup.”

The current owner, Atlanta Landsight LLC, acquired the house in 2021 for $1.65 million, according to property records. The latest vision was to transform the house into a short-term rental property in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to Urbanize Atlanta.

But that deadline has passed, and the house remains unfinished and unoccupied.

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)

A storied past

The mansion was built for Rufus Mathewson Rose and designed by noted Atlanta architect Emil Charles Seiz.

Rose founded the R. M. Rose Co. Distillery in Vinings. He died of heart failure in the house in 1910, according to an article in The Atlanta Constitution, which called him one of the city’s “most prominent citizens.”

In 1945, the Rufus M. Rose House became the longtime home of J.H. Elliott’s Antiques and the Atlanta Museum.

The quirky museum included relics such as Adolf Hitler’s raincoat, a lock of Napoleon’s hair and Davy Crockett’s rifle, according to a 1985 article in The Atlanta Journal.

Credit: source

Credit: source

The attraction also honored Atlanta history, with a small room devoted to “Gone With the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell. The famed writer reportedly visited the museum two weeks before she died in 1949.

But even in the 1980s, museum proprietor James H. Elliott Jr. expressed trouble with maintaining the old house.

“We’re restoring rooms as the money becomes available,” Elliott said at the time, noting the museum struggled with low visitation.

The house later became the headquarters of the Atlanta Preservation Center, its last known tenant, which relocated to Grant Park in 2001.

Moore said if the Rufus M. Rose House doesn’t sell, the current owner is “considering options on what he will do going forward” but has not yet decided.

Mitchell said he’s a believer in the mansion’s future.

“When you fall in love, no one can dictate to you how the human heart works,” Mitchell said. The house, he said, “has just not found the right person to be wed to.”