History in the Making Inman Park properties plans to transform Rufus Rose House into restaurant space

By Collin Kelley

Inman Park Properties has purchased the historic Rufus M. Rose House with plans to renovate and repurpose the last standing Victorian home on Peachtree Street into a restaurant space.

The 119-year-old Queen Anne-style home at 573 Peachtree Street has been vacant and crumbling since the Atlanta Preservation Center moved out in 2001.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to preserve and restore this historic jewel box in the heart of the city to serve the community and contribute to the local economy,” said Inman Park Properties, Inc. President Jeff Notrica said i a statement. “We will meticulously honor its architectural integrity while we bring it back to service.”

The Urban Design Commission recently permitted a simple Type I Certificate of Appropriateness to “re-roof” the building using charcoal-colored architectural shingles with a black drip edge, which maintains the original design of the building.

For the future of the building, Notrica envisions a savvy operator repurposing the historic Rufus Rose House into a restaurant. He cites the Olde Pink House in Savannah, which is housed in a former 18th century mansion, and the James Beard House in New York City, which was the former townhome of its namesake and also houses a restaurant, as examples of similar adaptive reuses of historic buildings.

Originally built in 1901 for Dr. Rufus Mathewson Rose by architect Emil Charles Seiz, the Rufus M. Rose House is a rare example of a nineteenth-century town house built for one of Atlanta’s wealthy citizens and is one of the last historic houses remaining on Peachtree Street. The home still retains most of its original exterior and interior features, which reveal its architectural and cultural significance. Since the Rose family moved out in 1921, the house has functioned as a rooming house, government offices, an antique store and museum.

The Rufus Rose renovation comes in tandem with the repurposing of the 1920s Medical Arts Building – just blocks away – into a boutique hotel. In addition, Emory University recently announced plans to build the Winship at Midtown, a state-ofthe-art new facility located on the campus of Emory University Hospital Midtown – directly across from Rufus Rose.

“We are extremely grateful that Mr. Notrica – a former Atlanta Preservation Center board member – is now the steward of this amazing home,” said David Mitchell, director of operations for the Atlanta Preservation Center. “It takes courage and vision to see a project like this come to a successful outcome.”

Notrica has restored and repurposed dozens of historic buildings throughout the southeast for the past 26 years, including some of Atlanta’s most iconic buildings in Inman Park, Midtown and Little Five Points. The developer has received awards from the Historic Savannah Foundation and the Urban Design Commission for such important buildings as Fire Station #11 on North Avenue and The Castle at 87 Fifteenth Street in Midtown, and 13-17 West Bay Street in Savannah.