Internal Built Environment Description: Rhodes Hall (part two)

Vaulted Ceiling of Living Room

Vaulted Ceiling of Living Room

Painting of coastal Georgia on wall of the living room

Painting of coastal Georgia on wall of the living room

The perimeter of the living room floor is lined with intricate patterns using woods of different shades

The perimeter of the living room floor is lined with intricate patterns using woods of different shades

Stained glass above the front door

Stained glass above the front door

The Grand stair-case with the painted glass windows behind it.

The Grand stair-case with the painted glass windows behind it.

Banister of the Grand stair-case

Banister of the Grand stair-case

The first thing I noticed when walking into the house is the stained glass window above the front door bearing the overlapped letters “AGR”, the initials of Amos Giles Rhodes (which seemed slightly egotistical to me). The next thing you see after passing the threshold of the front entrance is the expansive, very open landing area/living room with exquisite woodworking on the walls and scenes from the Georgian and Floridian coast painted along the tops of the walls. The vaulted ceiling holds light bulbs in each individual square compartment which was a very novel feature for homes at the time. The room contains the large semi-circle grand staircase to the left and is topped off with a large wood burning fireplace (unique in that fact as most of the other fireplaces are coal-burning). Another impressive feature of this room is the Banister on the stair-case, which is carved into a very ornate lion with a shield displayed across it’s chest. The house had a slight antique-esque smell that is only ever authentically produced by buildings that are similar in age to this one. This smell is very much that of aging wood, something to be expected of Rhodes Hall as the interior is rife with wooden ornamentation (the most striking of which being the massive mahogany grand staircase). This earthy, postbellum atmosphere is completed by the signature creaking and protesting of the still-original floorboards as one walks across them, especially on the staircases.

Fireplace in the Parlor

Fireplace in the Parlor

Another coal-burning fireplace

Another coal-burning fireplace

Main wood-burning Fireplace

Main wood-burning Fireplace

One fascinating recurring feature of this estate was the mosaic tiling around the 12 fireplaces. They all still have the original stone work and show varying degrees of age and use.

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