Work will soon get underway to maintain historic Bath property Fairfield House, once the home of the exiled Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I and now an important community base.
Owner Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) Council has started a formal partnership with Fairfield House Bath Community Interest Company (CIC) on a significant maintenance programme.
Fairfield House Bath CIC was awarded a two-year lease on the Victorian property on Kelston Road by the council last October.
From 1936 to 1941 the villa was the residence of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I. He gifted the property to Bath Corporation (a forerunner of B&NES) in 1959 as a home for the aged in gratitude for the warm welcome he received from the citizens of Bath.
A bungalow was later built in its grounds to provide caretaker accommodation.
Fairfield House, an ‘Italianate’ 19th-century, Grade II listed villa, was used as a residential care home until 1993, when new room size requirements made it unsuitable.
From then it has been used as a day centre by a number of groups including, since 1993, by the charity Bath Ethnic Minority Senior Citizens’ Association (BEMSCA).
Fairfield House is also a community hub and place of pilgrimage for the local people of Bath, for Rastafari, Ethiopians and the worldwide African diaspora.
The upgrade will enable the historic site to continue as a lively community hub, day care centre for the elderly and heritage attraction for visitors worldwide.
The council will manage the maintenance programme with an immediate focus on roof guttering and drainage repairs. A new partnership board, independently chaired by Tom Boden, the National Trust’s general manager for its Bath Portfolio, will meet monthly.
Fairfield House Bath CIC co-chair William Heath said: “This is a very important building and we are pleased to have been able to agree the maintenance programme with the council to ensure its future.”
He said the urgency of the repair work was underlined by a significant collapse of decorative plasterwork in the hall in the early hours of last Sunday when the house was empty. The ceiling will be fully restored by specialist contractors in coming weeks, who will carry out other safety checks.”
B&NES cabinet member for adult services and council house building Cllr Tom Davies added: “Fairfield House with its history and its contribution to community life means a great deal to so many people so I am pleased that a maintenance plan has been agreed and that work will begin on the house to ensure its future.”
