Est. 1904 · National Register of Historic Places (1974) · Atlanta Landmark Building (1989) · Headquarters of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation since 1983 · Willis F. Denny II Romanesque Revival design
Amos Giles Rhodes (1850-1928), founder of Rhodes Furniture and one of Atlanta's most successful Gilded Age furniture retailers, commissioned the house known today as Rhodes Hall from Atlanta architect Willis F. Denny II in 1902. The two-year construction was completed in 1904. The mansion was built of granite quarried from Stone Mountain and incorporates Romanesque, Victorian, and Arts and Crafts design elements.
The interior includes one of the most intact original Victorian interiors in Atlanta. Its most-photographed feature is the grand stair hall, where Rhodes commissioned a series of nine hand-painted stained-glass windows depicting 'The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy' — a Lost Cause commemoration installed during the early 20th century when such commemoration was widespread in white Southern civic and domestic spaces. The windows are recognized as significant Georgia stained glass.
Amanda Dougherty Rhodes died in the house in 1927. Amos Rhodes died there in 1928. After the Rhodes family disposed of the property, the State of Georgia acquired it and used it for archival storage. In 1983 the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation took over the building under a long-term arrangement with the State and made it their headquarters.
Rhodes Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 1, 1974 (reference number 74000678) and designated an Atlanta Landmark Building on October 23, 1989. Today the building functions as a house museum on the main floor and an event venue for weddings and corporate functions, with Georgia Trust offices on the upper floors. The Trust runs the annual Legends and Lore tour leveraging the building's well-documented paranormal reputation, and Rhodes Hall has been featured on television's 'Ghost Hunters,' WSB-TV's 'Georgia's Haunted Hidden Treasures,' and FOX 5's 'Good Day Atlanta.'
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Hall
- https://rhodeshall.org/
- https://www.georgiatrust.org/our-historic-sites/rhodes-hall/
- https://www.georgiatrust.org/tours-events/legends-and-lore-tour-at-rhodes-hall/
- https://ghosthuntersfans.com/rhodes-hall-atlantas-haunted-castle/
- https://paranormalunknown.com/atlantas-haunted-castle-rhodes-hall-with-a-storied-past/
Heavy bootsteps on second floorApparitions in mirrorsArtwork shifting or falling off wallsDisembodied voices and footsteps in the stair hallLight manipulation attributed to Amanda RhodesEVP captures and equipment battery drainsShadow figures
Rhodes Hall's paranormal interpretation focuses on the deaths of the Rhodes couple in the house itself: Amanda Dougherty Rhodes in 1927 and Amos Giles Rhodes in 1928. Atlanta Ghosts and Ghost Hunt Weekends document a consistent set of reports gathered over decades of tour operations.
The most frequently cited phenomena involve the second floor: heavy bootsteps walking the hallways when the floor is empty, apparitions glimpsed in the bedroom mirrors, and artwork that shifts or falls from the walls without obvious cause. The grand stair hall produces reports of disembodied voices, footsteps on the granite stairs, and unexplained light anomalies in the area of the 'Rise and Fall of the Confederacy' stained-glass windows.
The primary entity associated with the building is Amanda Rhodes herself. Tour narration attributes light manipulation, the rearrangement of small objects, and a perceived watching presence on the second floor to her spirit. Amos is sometimes credited with the heavier bootstep phenomena. Reports from Ghost Hunt Weekend overnight investigators include EVP captures, equipment battery drains, and shadow-figure sightings.
The property's paranormal reputation has been featured on Syfy's 'Ghost Hunters,' WSB-TV's 'Georgia's Haunted Hidden Treasures,' and FOX 5 Atlanta's 'Good Day Atlanta.' The Georgia Trust openly programs the annual Legends and Lore tour, and Rhodes Hall is one of the only Atlanta historic-property nonprofits that has formally embraced paranormal interpretation as part of its public programming.
Hauntbound notes the editorial care needed around the Lost Cause stained-glass windows: the documented paranormal narrative is about the Rhodes family deaths, not about the Confederate commemoration, and the windows' historical context is presented for what it is — a turn-of-the-20th-century Lost Cause artifact embedded in a Gilded Age domestic space.
Notable Entities
Amanda Dougherty Rhodes (d. 1927 in house)Amos Giles Rhodes (d. 1928 in house)
Media Appearances
- Syfy 'Ghost Hunters'
- WSB-TV 'Georgia's Haunted Hidden Treasures'
- FOX 5 Atlanta 'Good Day Atlanta'
- The Lineup feature
