Welcome to Part II of Philip Shutze treasures for sale (or in this case, for rent). Thanks to Things That Inspire and the Architectural Tourist, I will be featuring a Part III tomorrow with more finds!
This house has such a great history (and TONS of photos) that I think it warrants its own post. Dubbed "The Pink Palace" for its original exterior color, The Rhodes House (1929) sits at 541 West Paces Ferry Road. The house was built for the Rhodes family, of the famed Rhodes Furniture company. More recently, the home was purchased by Zurab Lezhava for his wife, Nino Sukhishvili, in 2004 for $3.6 million, and underwent a complete renovation and became "green." Apparently, this reduced the energy bills from $6,500/month down to $150.
Though the couple initially had no plans to sell, the surprising death of her father, head of the Georgia State Dance Company (as in the country of Georgia, rather than the state), prompted the couple to return to Georgia. The house created a buzz in Atlanta as the most expensive piece of property, with an asking price of $20 million. Interestingly, the agent, Rosina Seydel (for Sotheby's International Real Estate at the time), spent her teenage years in the home. The Pink Palace made headlines once again when they slashed the price to $10 million- a veritable bargain. I'm not clear if Lezhava still owns the property (I couldn't find any record of a sale) but Seydel is now the rental manager of the property for Smithson Seydel Real Estate. So, if you're planning a little fête, the 16k square foot home can be yours... at least for a few hours. The Pink Palace even has its own website, 541WestPaces.com, though I couldn't get most of the pages to load.
Take a look at the extensive renovation- Lezhava, an engineer by trade, actually trained many of the workers to ensure they got it just right. My favorite quote that I found involves the last few photos of the attic space, where Lezhava commented, "This room didn't exist before. I was free to do whatever I wanted as I had no obligation to Atlanta." Which says to me that he did consider Atlanta and the rich history of this house in the other rooms. You'll see photos of the basement, pool, etc. in party reviews as well as several musicians and NeNe's (of The Real Housewives of Atlanta) photo shoot.
Yes, this house is over the top (it's a palace for goodness sake!) but I think there are a few elements one could incorporate into one's own little palace too. I think the chandeliers are one of my favorite accent pieces.
Photos from Leasing Luxury Lifestyles, WBSTV, AJC, For all the photos, please visit these sources. To learn more about the home and its history, take a look at the article, "If These Walls Could Talk" published in the April 2008 Atlanta Peach.
