Built for the founder of the Four Roses Distillery, the Rufus M. Rose House is one of only four "Victorian" mansions left along Peachtree Street and the only one left in the central business district. A splendidly intact example of late Victorian architecture, the Rose House is an extremely rare example of a nineteenth-century town house of the affluent. Its beautifully carved front steps rise directly from the busy sidewalk in the fashion of pre-automobile Atlanta, and its tiny yard, shaded by a large elm that is original to the site, are a singular survivor from Peachtree's residential heyday. Designed by Atlanta architect E. C. Seiz, the Rose House has a red-brick exterior with multi- gabled and bayed facades penetrated by a variety of window shapes and sizes. Although it has lost its front porch, it retains several fine chimneys and a slate roof. The second floor houses the "Atlanta Museum," one of the most remarkable private museum collections in the city. As the home of an important business figure in the city and a rare example of residential development before the advent of the automobile, the Rose House has a high level of historical significance to the city. Mostly intact and extremely well-preserved, it has a very high level of architectural significance. Finally, the historic character of the Rose House is so clearly visible and the sense of time and place that it conveys so strong that its cultural significance to the city is of the first order.