For the first time since the onset of COVID-19, Atlanta’s “Castle on Peachtree” Rhodes Hall is open again for regular public tours through the opulent home operated by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
For $15 a person and $12 for students and children, guests can participate in a guided tour of the hall every third and fourth Saturday of the month. The tour explores the history and architecture of a Romanesque Revival mansion built for furniture magnate Amos Rhodes between 1902 and 1904.
The home was originally built as one of several mansions that lined Peachtree Street, but now it stands alone as one of the few intact Victorian architecture designs in the city. Since 1983 it’s been the headquarters for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preservation and revitalization of historic property in Georgia.
Rhodes Hall’s long-standing public tours were a casualty of COVID-19 when non-essential services were shut down for public safety in 2020. The hall kept up with its Halloween “Legends and Lore” tours with a focus on more “spiritual” parts of the building, but the traditional historical side went largely untouched until 2024.
When W. Wright Mitchell took over as the new president and CEO of the Trust in September 2023, one of the first things he wanted to do was open the house back up to the public.
“I’m interested in breathing some life back in the house,” Mitchell said. “I think a home like this was designated to be enjoyed — for parties and for public gatherings.”
The tours, Mitchell said, fit what the house was intended for. The space itself is opulent, with tiled fireplaces, extensive electricity, painted landscapes and a massive spiral staircase. It underwent a sustainable rehabilitation from 2013 to 2016 that repaired parts of the building and made it environmentally efficient.
But the hall has long been well-preserved since the Rhodes children deeded it to the state of Georgia in 1926. The trust started renting it in 1983 and has been in charge of maintaining it since, painting, repairing and refinishing the hall’s details.
“It’s here because there were concerted efforts taken to protect it, and without those safeguards being put into place, properties will be torn down,” Mitchell said.
With a largely intact historic building, the biggest step of reopening the hall to tours was getting the longtime guide back on board. Alan Kachur has been the sole tour guide for regular visits and the Halloween attractions, working as a volunteer for 15 years.
When Mitchell reached out to Kachur about picking up the tours again, he said the volunteer docent “graciously” agreed to participate. Kachur said when they first mentioned restarting tours a year prior, he wasn’t available, but now the timing worked out.
“I was all-in again. The opportunity to be in the house and to be able to share what’s there, I jumped at it,” Kachur said.
Kachur has been fascinated by history since he was a child and spent years waiting for the moment he could buy an old house. He wasn’t able to get involved in historic preservation until he moved to Georgia, though, where he was quickly drawn into the Trust as a volunteer.
“The great thing with Georgia Trust and Rhodes Hall is every person has a passion,” Kachur said.
Kachur has been brought back as a volunteer year after year, armed with a massive binder of information on the home. He said “the house itself” is what keeps him coming back, with its rich history and interior.
He also thinks it’s important to learn from history. As the leader of the state’s largest historic preservation organization, Mitchell agrees — and wants to use the Hall to help people engage with the historic fabric of Atlanta.
“In Atlanta, we don’t have a ton of historic attractions for people to visit, and this one is certainly right on Peachtree,” Mitchell said. “People see it and wonder about it.”
The Trust president said Atlanta is different from cities like Savannah and Boston because historic preservation is less of a priority, especially with a large transient population. In Savannah, visitors can join any number of walking tours of check out carriage house museums.
In Atlanta, there are fewer options. Mitchell said the appeal of Rhodes Hall is that it’s interactive, and you can “experience history” firsthand by exploring Atlanta’s Peachtree Street castle.
“History gives communities a sense of place,” Mitchell said. “Without a sense of place, I think it is very hard to attract people who want to live and work and manufacture communities.”
Rhodes Hall makes a prominent appearance in my novel Skinners – A Love Story. Would love to have you carry some copies. ?